Swiss Family Conlon
by Late Night Muses
Summary: FINISHED! The Conlons take a little trip, only to get stranded on an uninhabited island.
1. Default Chapter

**Swiss Family Conlon**

**Chapter 1:**

"Bye! Bye!" The cries echoed throughout the docks as the Brooklyn newsies saw Rae, Spot, Ann, and Andy off onto their ship, The Minnow. Spot and Rae had randomly picked their ship, which was going to take them all the way to London. Needless to say, they were excited. Especially Ann and Andy.

Spot slipped his arm around his new wife's waist. "Well, Darling, we are off on another exciting adventure." he said with a smile.

Rae nodded, carefully avoiding Ann and Andy, who were bouncing around, shrieking, "We're going to London! We're going to London!"

"Do they even know what London is?" Spot whispered in her ear.  She shook her head. "I think they are just excited to be going somewhere!"

"Ann, Andy, quiet down some," she then reprimanded gently. They were receiving a few stares. Looking at Spot, she said, "I'm very proud of you."

"Oh really?" he asked.

She nodded. "You haven't stressed about your accident since you confronted everyone at the lodging house." She smiled, squeezing his arm.

"It's easier when you're by my side.  Everyone is so taken away by your beauty that they forget about my face." he replied with a grin.

Rae rolled her eyes some but grinned at the praise anyway.

He offered her his arm. "Shall we take those two bundles of energy and go settle into our rooms, Mrs. Conlon?"

"Why certainly, Mr. Kelly," she teased and winked at him.

"Hey!" he protested, but grinned at her.

They took the twins' hands and led them onto the ship, where one of the ship's crew showed them to decent living quarters.

They were given two rooms.  The slightly larger one was to be their living quarters of sorts.  The smaller one was a bedroom.  Rae dropped wearily on the couch and Ann crawled up beside her and rested her head on Rae's lap.

Andy, on the other hand, was busy racing around, testing out all the new gadgets and objects within the room in complete awe. "Lookit this! And this! Wow, what's this do? Can I have this?"

"Andy, settle down a bit, for the rest of us." Spot said, sitting on the other side of Ann.

"But I wanna play with this neat stuuuuuff!"

"Andy, you heard what Spot said. Besides, we are going to be on this boat for a long time."

He plopped down on the rug. "We are? Wow!"

"Why don't you two take short naps and then I'll take you to go explore the ship." Spot suggested.

Ann nodded agreeably, but Andy whined, "But I ain't tired Mr. Spot!"

"No nap, no exploring." Spot said, pulling the little boy to his feet.

He pouted but obediently headed for the bedroom. "Can we go see the ship's captain steer the boat then Mr. Spot?"

Spot laughed. "We'll see."

With a slight exclamation of glee, he dragged Ann with him, saying, "The sooner our nap is over, the sooner we get to see the ship's captain!"

Spot dropped back onto the couch and rested his head on Rae's lap.  She giggled. "You didn't want them to take naps. You were just jealous of Ann."

Spot grinned. "'Course I was jealous. She got to be all cuddly with you and I didn't," he teased.

She giggled. "You're horrible."

"But you love me anyway." he replied.

"Unfortunately." She winked at him and curled up next to him. "I can't believe we're really going to London."

"It seems so unreal."

"Everything that's happened recently seems that way."

He nodded. "I still keep expecting that house's owners to come back... what if they do?"

"Then we find somewhere else to live.  Putting that money in the bank was a good idea."

"Let's just hope if they do come back, we don't get chased down and arrested."

She nodded.   "I wish we could have figured out what happened to them."

He nodded and yawned. "Well, as long as the kids are getting some sleep, we may as well."

"Sounds good to me." she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled, stroking her hair gently. "Sweet dreams Mrs. Conlon."

* * *

The next night they were all sitting in their room talking, when the ship rocked suddenly, throwing Rae from the couch.

Andy quickly followed. Spot grabbed Ann before she slid off the couch and he ended up almost flipping backwards. "What in the world is going on?!"

"I wish I knew." Rae said, crawling back to him, Andy's arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

Spot stumbled to his feet and he fought to keep his balance as he crossed the floor. He opened the door as lightening flickered through the sky. Ear-splitting thunder boomed. "I figure it's safe to say that it is storming outside."

"Yes," Rae said.  When the thunder sounded, Ann had leapt into her arms.

"I'm scared," Ann whimpered. Andy latched onto Rae soon afterwards. "Me too..."

"I know," she whispered trying to comfort them. 'I am too.' she thought.

Spot pushed the stubborn door closed and sat next to them. "Come on... why don't you two go lie down. Rae and I can read to you, if you'd like."

"Can we stay in here?" Ann asked.  

"I don't want to go back in there, either." Andy added.

Spot glanced at Rae and she shrugged. "I suppose so."

Spot made his way to the other room and brought back several quilts.  Wrapping one around each of the twins, he settled them both on the floor. "Alright, which book do you want us to read?"

"_Beauty and the Beast!" Ann exclaimed._

Rae bit her lip in an effort to keep from giggling, but one look at Spot was she was soon laughing.

Spot just smirked and took the book from Rae's pack. "All right then, what did you last hear?"

"Beauty had just agreed to come live with Beast." Rae said.

He nodded, opened the book, and began to read, making deep voices for the Beast and high voices for Beauty, which caused everyone to laugh.

The twins soon fell asleep and Rae moved over closer to Spot.  "I hope this storm doesn't keep up too much longer."

Spot nodded. "This isn't exactly what I had envisioned for this trip."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "Read me some more?"

He smiled. "Haven't you heard enough of this story?" he teased.

"Never."

He smiled. "All right then." He opened the book and continued to read.

* * *

The next day the storm raged on.  Our four friends were still huddled on the floor in their room, trying desperately not to get thrown around the room by the violent waves that were rocking the ship.

Andy had thrown up twice, Ann once, and Spot and Rae both felt seasickness creeping up. "I don't like London no more," Andy whimpered.

"I know, sweetheart." Rae said, brushing a stray lock of hair from his face.

"Can we go back home now?"

"No we can't Andy." Spot said from where he sat a few feet away, holding Ann who was crying. "We have to go to London and then we have to make the trip back."

Andy started to cry. "We didn't even get to look at the ship..."

Rae pulled him closer to her. "There will still be plenty of time, Andy."

"I hate London," he whined again.

"I think he thinks this ship is London," Spot whispered in Rae's ear, glad to find a little amusement in not such an amusing situation.

She nodded.  "Why don't you try to sleep, Andy, it will make you feel better."

"What if the boat tips over? What if the thunder breaks it? What if it hits an iceberg an' cracks in half and falls into the ocean-"

Spot put his hand up to stop him. "No more what-ifs, okay mister? That's not even possible. Everything will be fine."

"Quiet down and close your eyes, Andy." Rae whispered softly, rubbing his little back.

He whimpered and rested his head on the couch.

Once they were both sleeping Rae looked over at Spot, "I can't take another day of this."

"Neither can I. Andy's what-ifs have gotten me a little worried."

Rae sighed heavily.  "Come here, Darling." Spot said.  As she moved to crawl toward him, the boat shifted suddenly, sending them both flying into the far wall and knocking them both unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

The sea was amazingly calm after the storm of the last two days.  In fact looking at it now you would never have guessed that the storm had been that bad, unless of course you happened to see the ship that had wrecked on the uninhabited island. Deep within the bowels of the ship laid four people.  The youngest two lay sleeping peacefully, unaware of the fate that had befallen them, while the other 

A seagull landed on Ann's chest, startling her awake. Blearily, she rubbed her eyes and shrieked in surprise, waking up Andy as well.

"What'cha screaming about? Why is it so bright out?" The twins looked around. 

"Where are we Andy?"

"I don't know." he replied.

"Where are Miss Rae and Mr. Spot?" Ann asked with a whimper.

Andy climbed to his feet, shaking the sand off his torn pants and shrugged. "Maybe over there?" he pointed to the wreckage several feet off from them.

"Andy, be careful." Ann whispered, following closely behind him.

"I'm always careful." But he slowed down to a crawling pace and picked his way over the debris. "Mr. Spot? Miss Rae? ..." Then he froze.

Ann bumped into him. "What is it?" she asked.

"I... I think they're dead." He pointed to them.

"They can't be dead, Andy. Take it back!"

"Well they aren't moving!"

Ann crept slowly forward and knelt beside Spot, gently shaking his shoulder. "Mr. Spot?"

Her lip quivered when he didn't move. She moved to Rae. "Miss Rae?"

Rae moaned and stirred slightly. Ann shook her again, "Miss Rae?"

Slowly, Rae opened her eyes. "What?" She groaned when she sat up. She glanced around. "Where... are we?"

Ann threw her arms around Rae's neck, "Miss Rae, I can't get Mr. Spot to wake up."

Rubbing her aching head, she grabbed Spot's shoulder and gave it a rough shake. But still he didn't wake up.

"Spot," she said, shaking him harder.

He opened his eyes slowly and stared at her blankly for a moment. He sat up, shaking his head. "We're on a beach?" he mumbled, puzzled.

"The ship broke," Andy said, pointing to a huge piece of wreckage.

Spot placed a hand on his forehead. "That explains the headache..."

Rae looked at the twins, "Have you seen anyone else?"

They shook their heads.

"We just woke up before you," Ann added.

Spot stood shakily to his feet and reached to help Rae up. "We should go see if anyone else is here."

They nodded in agreement and the four went to explore this new beach wilderness

Nearly an hour later Ann collapsed on the sand. "I can't go no more."

Andy nodded and plopped down next to her. "I'm tired... I wanna go back home... Can't we go back?"

"We can't Andy.  The boat broke remember?" Spot asked.

"Can't we make another?"

Rae looked around. "There isn't another one, sweetheart."

Andy began to whimper. 

"Are we stuck here then?" Ann asked tearfully.

"It looks that way." Spot said.

The twins were on the verge of crying. Rae made quick to shush them. "It's going to be all right. I'm sure someone will come for us today."

"I don't know about that Rae." Spot said quickly.

"Well, we have to hope, don't we?"

"I suppose so.  Until then we need to see about rigging some kind of tent."

"Do... you know how to build one? Because I've never built one before."

"I wanna help!" Andy exclaimed readily.

"It can't be too hard." Spot said.  "Let's go back to the boat and see what we can use." he added.

Andy bounded after him. "Can I help? Can I?"

Spot laughed and swung Andy up to take a seat on his shoulders. "Sure, kiddo." he said, as Rae and Ann followed at a slower pace.

"Is a boat really gonna come save us Miss Rae?" Ann asked worriedly.

Rae sighed. "I hope so Ann.  I really do."

She gripped Rae's hand as they headed for the wreckage. "I'm scared..."

"Me too, sweetheart."

Andy and Spot boldly clambered over the broken planks and torn fabrics in search of precious treasures that would help them survive their duration on the island.

"Spot, please be careful!" Rae called.

"Aw, I will. Andy, look out for nails. Don't step on them." 

"I will!" the little boy said.  He bent to pick up a board, gasped and then dropped it back.   He picked it up again and then screamed when he saw two people staring up at him.

"What in the...?!" Rae and Spot ran over to him and looked at what Andy had been looking at... Simultaneously, they screamed as well. The two pairs of eyes they had gazed upon screamed back.

Rae was the first to recover and she knelt carefully on the wreckage.  "Are either of you hurt?" she asked.

The older one, the boy, just stared at her, wide-eyed. The little girl with him stammered a "no."

"Let's get you out of there." Rae said, beginning to pull away the boards that had them trapped.

Once free, the boy stood, grabbed the girl's arm, and quickly pulled her to a stand and down the beach.

"Where are you going?" Spot demanded.

The boy turned. "You can't keep us here and punish us. The boat's done and gone, we can't be in trouble anymore," he said, with false bravado. 

"No one is going to punish you." Rae said quickly.

He stared at her. "You're just saying that so we'll come closer."

"No I'm not.  We aren't going to punish you.  What is it that you have done that deserves punishment anyway?"

The boy looked down and muttered something.

"You have to speak up, kid." Spot said.

"We stowed away on the boat," the girl piped up.

"Julie!" the boy hissed.

"What Chris?" she asked.  "She said they weren't going to punish us!"

"Grownups lie all the time!"

"We don't lie," Spot said, "Well... not most of the time..."

Rae rolled her eyes.  "My name is Rae."

"I'm Spot. The two midgets are Andy and Ann. And you two would be?" though he knew perfectly well what their names were now.

"I'm Julie." the girl said.  "He's Chris."

"You gotta go telling people who we are all the time? You're gonna get us in trouble one of these days!" Chris hissed.

"No I'm not!" she protested.

Rae leaned over to Spot and whispered in his ear, "And I thought the twins were bad." Spot grinned.

"Yes you are!" Chris argued.

"Are you two related?" Rae finally asked.

"He's my brother!" Julie said, making a face.

Spot nodded. "Figured. So... how did the two of you end up stowing away on the ship?"

"We were going to be with our father." Julie said, before her brother covered her mouth with his hand.

"Hush, Julie," he hissed.

Rae nodded. "Where is your father?"

Julie's response was muffled.

"Let her talk," Spot ordered.

Biting her brother's hand, Julie smiled. "Our father is in London," she said proudly.

"Why were you here?"

"Because-"

"Stop answering all the questions!" Chris yelled.

"Fine, you answer them!" his sister replied.

"FINE!" he yelled. "We had to get out of New York."

Catching on to the "why" game, Ann asked, "Why?" the exact question that was just forming on Rae's lips. Rae laughed slightly.

"We got into some trouble with the police and our aunt was going to send us to the orphanage." Julie said, hanging her head.

"Well, we have a couple of born newsies," Spot replied with a grin.

Rae laughed and then looked up at the sky.  "We better get that tent set up.  It looks like it could rain again."

Ann and Andy began to whimper. "I don't want it to rain again," Andy whimpered. 

"Oh shut it, you baby," Chris muttered.

Rae glared at him. "You shut up. He's five years old for goodness sake!"

"Watch it lady!" Chris said, glaring back at her.

Spot stalked over to Chris and grabbed his collar, giving him a very mean glare. "Don't you threaten my wife."

"Alright!" Chris yelled, wiggling from his grasp.

Spot snorted before continuing. "Now, we're stuck on this island for who knows how long, so we'd best learn to get along." He gave the boy a look.

Chris rolled his eyes, obviously not liking this sudden show of authority from Spot.  "And what if I don't, ya freak?"

Balling his hand into a fist, Spot backhanded him across the face. "Watch who you're talking to, boy…or I'll…" he growled.

"SPOT!" Rae hissed, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What?!" he snapped. "My patience only goes so far...." He frowned deeply. 

"Please try to stretch it a little bit further.  For everyone's sake."

He sighed heavily.

Meanwhile, Ann stalked over to Chris. "Now, it wasn't nice for Mr. Spot to hurt you, but you're a big meanie! Mr. Spot's very nice and you weren't being very nice to him at all!"

"Shut it," he said, shoving her aside.  Andy, suddenly being the protective brother, came at him, his tiny fists flying.

Rae threw herself between Andy and Chris. "KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW!" she yelled, stunning them into silence. "Who knows how long we are going to be here, but until we are able to leave, I suggest that we all keep our tempers under control."

Both Spot and Chris grudgingly muttered their consents.

"That's better," she said.  "Now if you gentlemen would kindly put up some kind of shelter, Julie, the twins and I will attempt to find some food."

They nodded mutely, eyed one another suspiciously, and then headed off down the beach.

Rae sent the twins off to gather small pieces of wood, while she and Julie searched among the wreckage for some canned goods.  "What happened to his face?" Julie asked.

Rae sighed. "He was working at a factory and there was an accident that he got involved in," she explained.

"Oh," was all Julie said.

Rae reached over and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, "It's all right now."

"Is he... is he mean because of it?"

"Good heavens no.  He's always had a temper problem, come to think of it, I have too."

Ann and Andy nodded in agreement.

"They always fight," Ann quipped.

"They don't fight, Ann," Andy said. "They argue." he added, remembering what Spot had once told him.

Rae laughed and Julie grinned a bit.

"What? It's true!"

Rae looked down at the small pile of tins they had collected.  "Well, kids, I think this will be enough for dinner.  Let's go see if Spot and Chris managed to build us a shelter without killing each other."

Julie grinned. "I doubt it. Chris is very stubborn."

"So is Spot," Rae answered, gathering the twins in her arms, and leaving Julie to gather the food.

They headed down the beach, keeping an eye out for the boys.

They found them, standing beside the piece of sail that they had managed to stretch between four trees, glaring at each other, as if daring the other to throw the first punch.

Rae set Ann and Andy down and stalked over to them. "All right," she began, folding her arms over her chest. "Who started it?"

"He did," they both said.  Rae grabbed Spot's arm and pulled him away from the four children.  "Would you stop it already?" she asked.

"It's not MY fault! It's his!"

"I said stop it. You're acting like a two year old!"

"Well, so is he!" Spot retorted.

Rae sighed in frustration and threw her hands in the air, before turning and walking further down the beach.

Throwing a glance at the group of children, he then trotted after Rae. "Look.... I'm sorry.... I'm just getting really stressed about this whole thing...."

She turned suddenly.  "I am too, but you don't see me taking it out on any of them, do you?"

"I can't help it!" he replied on edge. "It just... happens before I can think!"

"You need to stop and think."

"Yeah, I need to. But I don't," he replied. Rae sighed and Spot wrapped his arms around her, resting her head on his shoulder.  "I'm sorry," he whispered.

She nodded, "What's going to happen to us?"

"I don't know," he replied.

She leaned up and kissed his cheek.  "Come on, let's go take care of our charges."

"Amazing, how, in a period of probably one hour, we've gone from having two to having four... It usually takes couples a few years to get that many kids." He smirked.

"Maybe one day we'll have that many of our own." she said with a smile.

Spot smiled and took her hand.

"I love you." she said.

"I love you more."

"Oh, don't tell me you two are going to start all that mushy couple stuff," Chris muttered. 

Rae smirked at him, before leaning over to kiss her husband.

"Ew, gross!" he yelled. The other three children soon mimicked him.

Spot and Rae laughed. Then she gave Spot a playful shove.  "Why don't you build us a fire, so that I can warm up this food," she suggested.

"Oh, no you don't," he said, "You aren't cooking anything!"

She planted her hands on her hips. "I can cook..." Spot gave her a look. "A little," she added.

"Its the rest that I'm worried about," Spot said.

She swatted his arm. "Just do it. If you have to, you can help."

"How about, I cook, you help," he suggested.

Wrinkling her nose, she finally agreed. Julie and Chris stared at them.

"YOU do the cooking?" they both exclaimed to Spot.

He laughed.  "Rae has attempted to burn down buildings with her cooking."

In turn, they stared at Rae. 

She shrugged, "So I never learned to cook."

"I thought all girls cooked," Chris murmured.

"Not Miss Rae," Andy replied. "Mr. Spot does all our cooking."

Julie giggled and then covered her mouth with her hands.

Spot just shrugged and smirked. "All right, so who wants to help me cook some food?"

"Me! Me!" The twins shrieked.

He scooped one up under each arm and carried them a short distance away to build a fire.

Julie glanced at Rae. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"We sit and wait for Spot to decide that he needs help." Rae said sitting on a log.  She jumped up suddenly. "My book!" she yelled, running toward the wreckage.

Chris and Julie exclaimed glances and then, after realizing that they didn't have much to do anyway, ran after her. "What are we looking for Rae?" Julie asked when they caught up to her.

"A book that was very special to me. I need to find it."

"It wouldn't be anything more than a mess," Chris said wisely. "Not if it was in the water."

"I don't care." Rae said. "I just want to find it."

"What's it called?" he asked after a moment.

"Beauty and the Beast," Rae answered, throwing anything that was getting in her way.

"I read that before!" Julie shrilled excitedly.

Her brother rolled his eyes. "Girls," he muttered, digging through the wreckage.

She kicked a puddle of mud at him before continuing, "I really liked it! But I don't know why she went to go live with a stinky, smelly beast instead of her pa. I mean, he was the one who got in trouble."

"Because she loved her father." Rae answered. "And her two sisters were too stuck up to do it."

Julie frowned. "Well, if I was Beauty, I would have made my sisters do it. I would have grabbed them by the hair and…"

"You would not," Chris retorted. "She's scared of a little LIZARD," he explained to Rae. "Ain't no way she'd ever make anyone do anything."

"Would too!" 

"Would not, baby!"

"Would too, and don't call me a baby, muttonhead!"

Rae laughed. "Alright you two, knock it off."

Julie sniffed and flounced over to the opposite side of the wreckage.

"Sisters," Chris muttered.

Rae shook her head, rolling her eyes slightly. Moving a board, she found her book, waterlogged with slightly runny ink. Frowning, she crouched down slowly and carefully extracted it from the mess.

She carefully turned a few of the pages, trying to keep back the tears that were quickly filling her eyes.

Chris went over to her. "It's just a book," he said, but not in a mean way.

"It was more than just a book to me and Spot.  So much more." she whispered.

"Can't you just get another at a store?"

"It just wouldn't be the same."  Rae stood and walked further down the beach alone.

Julie stepped up to her brother and watched Rae walk away. "Poor Miss Rae." Her brother just shrugged, not understanding the significance of a book.

The brother and sister walked back over to the fire that Spot had built.  "Where's Rae?" he asked.

"She went off that way." Julie pointed to Rae's disappearing silhouette.

Spot frowned worriedly. "What's the matter?"

"She found a wet book," Chris replied with a shrug, sitting down to warm himself by the fire.

Spot glanced at Julie, hoping that she could explain better than her brother.

She nodded. "Miss Rae got sad when she found _Beauty and the Beast all wet and gross."_

Spot nodded in understanding.  "Will you two keep an eye on the twins for me?" he asked. She nodded, pleased to be given such a responsibility. Spot followed the figure of his wife down the beach. "Rae," he called softly.

She stopped, shoulders hunched and shaking. "It's ruined, Spot!" she cried, turning to him and holding out the book. "It's ruined!"

"Shh," he said, pulling her into his arms, the destroyed book between them.

"I know I'm being silly," she sobbed, "One of us could have been injured or worse, and I'm crying over a stupid book."

He stroked her tangled hair. "It's okay. We've had a really rough time..."

"Spot, I'm so..." she started weakly, but trailed off as her knees buckled beneath her.

Gripping her tightly, he set her gently in the sand and sat next to her. "You okay?"

She weakly rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm so tired Spot."

"Well, let's get you back to the campsite, okay? You can rest better there in our... tent... thing."

She nodded weakly as he stood and lifted her into his arms.  "Spot?" she whispered.

"Yes?" He looked at her inquisitively.

"I love you," she whispered, "and I'm sorry to be such a burden."

"You aren't a burden," he replied, kissing her forehead. "Now, those two brats we picked up, THEY are a burden," he teased gently.

"They really aren't that bad." Rae whispered.  "Just give them a chance."

"I am... well, I am to Julie. I think Chris needs a good dose of respect."

"Spot Conlon, who are you to talk about respect?" Rae scolded with a small smile.

"Ah... well...."

"Honestly, you two are going to be more trouble than the twins."

He smirked. "You know you wouldn't have me any other way," he replied as they reached the camp.

"Of course not," she said, kissing his cheek.

"Ewww!" the four children around the fire echoed.

"Get used to it, kiddos," Spot said, setting Rae on a blanket by the fire.

"Mr. Spot, when are we going to eat?" Andy asked, tugging his shirt torn shirt sleeve.

"As soon as we can get something warmed up." Spot said, ruffling the boy's hair.

"How long will that be?"

"Hopefully not too long," Spot said, turning to the pile of food that Rae and Julie had managed to find. "Dinner ain't gonna be big, I'm warning you. We want some of this stuff to last us because we don't know how long we're going to be here... So, if you're really hungry, see if you can figure out how to fish."

Chris snorted.  "I'm going to figure out how to fish then." he said, heading toward the water.

Spot just rolled his eyes some. Then he looked at the can. "Uh... how are we gonna open this?

Rae pulled her knife from her boot. "Use this."

He took the knife and stabbed at the can's tin until he could poke a hole through it. Once he managed to get the lid off he set it near the fire.  Just as he sat down next to Rae, they heard screams coming from the ocean.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Looking at one another, Rae and Spot jumped to their feet and sprinted down the beach in search of Chris. He couldn't have gone that far... 

"Chris?"

"Chris! Where are you?"

"There he is!"

They could just barely see his head bobbing above the waves in the fading light. Rae gasped. Spot muttered under his breath and plunged into the waves after him.

What seemed hours later, Spot finally managed to pull the boy ashore. Immediately, Rae swooped down beside them. Spot collapsed wearily onto the sand, breathing hard, as she inspected Chris. He seemed more scared than hurt.  "We need to get both of you dry now," Rae said, attempting to pull Chris to his feet. As he was hoisted up, he coughed up a mouthful of water and whimpered.

"What happened?" Rae demanded gently, pulling Spot to a stand as well and leading the both of them down the beach.

"A wave knocked me down." Chris said.

"Can you swim?" she asked hesitantly, after a moment.

He hung his head as Julie giggled and said, "No!"

He made a face at her but didn't attempt to correct or yell at her. Rae put her arm around his shoulders. "Maybe Spot can show you how. He's pretty good at things like that." She gave Spot a smirk.

Spot glared at her and muttered something as he grabbed two blankets that had been salvaged from the wreck and threw one of them at Chris

Meanwhile, Rae peered over the can of food that Julie had taken over cooking. "Smells... edible."

She nodded. "It's done." She handed out shaved sticks. "Here's the fork 'till we find some or something."

 They ate the food hungrily, seemingly not minding the small amount, or the makeshift forks.  By the time they finished it was completely dark and the twins were beginning to nod off.

"Time for bed," Rae said softly, shaking the twins awake enough to place under the makeshift shelter. She kissed each forehead and murmured a goodnight. Spot soon followed with the same. Looking at Julie and Chris, he smiled to see that they both were already fast asleep.

Rae sat down next to Spot in front of the fire.  He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. "I love you," he whispered.

Resting her head on her shoulders, she repeated the phrase softly. "Spot?" she asked after a long pause. "What are we gonna do? We can't live off of fish and canned goods forever. Those canned things will only last us a short while."

"I don't know.  I didn't want to say this in front of the children, but I don't think we are going to be rescued anytime soon."

Slowly, she shook her head. "I don't think we are either," she replied quietly.

"I'll start making plans for a better shelter tomorrow."

With tears forming in her eyes, she nodded. How awful this predicament was. Sure, it could have been worse... but it certainly could have been better as well. She didn't like the thought of making a better shelter- that implied that they really were stuck there... not just for the night.

Spot pulled her closer to him and stroked her tangled hair. "I know you didn't want to hear that, but we must face the facts.  Who knows how long we could be here."

Rae sniffled and nodded. "Yes, I know..."

"Do you want a better tent, or a house?" he asked softly.

"I guess... I guess we have to... If we don't know how long we're gonna be here..."

"First though, we clean up this beach.  There has to be all kinds of stuff that we can use in that wreckage."

Silently, she nodded.

"Why don't you try to get some sleep," he suggested.

"I'll try," she replied with a half smile. Standing, she kissed him and headed off to their shelter and laid down in attempt to sleep.

As soon as she had lain down, Ann crawled over to her. "Miss Rae?" she whispered.

Opening her eyes, she propped herself up on her elbows. "Yes Ann?"

"When I close my eyes, I see the ship crashing."

            Rae sat up further and put her arms around Ann. "It's okay. We're safe now." Just then lightening streaked across the sky and thunder roared.

Ann shrieked and jumped into Rae's lap. Promptly, she burst into tears. Rae hugged the girl closer to her, suddenly afraid of the storm herself.  "It's alright Ann," she whispered, trying to sound comforting.

Spot crawled beneath the shelter quickly, shaking rainwater from his hair. "Looks like another..." He stopped short, as Ann looked at him fearfully, and Rae tried to suppress her own fear. He crawled next to them. "It's gonna be alright," he said soothingly to Ann, but intending for his wife to take comfort as well.

Ann quickly crawled into his arms, "Make it stop Mr. Spot. I'm scared."

He kissed the top of her head. "It'll be okay." Reaching out, he squeezed Rae's hand. "We're safer here."

The thunder roared again, this time louder, and waking little Andy.

Ann cried even louder and Andy began to do the same, seeing his distraught twin.

Rae pulled Andy into her arms, and was doing her best to comfort him, but it was almost as if he sensed her fear.

Spot ruffled Andy's hair. "It's okay. It's only noise."

Chris was awakened by the noise moments later. "What's going on?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"A storm blew up and frightened the twins," Rae explained, still trying to calm Andy down.

"It's just a bit of rain, kid," he explained to Andy. "It ain't gonna hurt you, see?" He stuck his hand in the rain and pulled it back in. "Just a bit of water."

"But the water broke the boat," Andy sniffled.

"Not the rainwater. The OCEAN water did. Way out... far in the ocean."

Andy nodded and quieted some, but just as he did, lightening streaked across the sky again and the thunder roared.  Ann screamed and wrapped her arms tighter around Spot's neck. He gagged at her strangling hold. "Hey, hey there sweetheart. Loosen up some, okay? It's just noise. Loud noise, but noise can't hurt you, okay?"

Ann loosened her hold slightly.  "It's still scary!" she sobbed.

"There, there." He kissed her forehead, not really sure how else to make her calm down. Chris aided with Andy, but he didn't seem interested in helping with Ann. It was then that he noticed Chris had fallen asleep again. With a smirk, he shook his head. "Try to close your eyes and sleep," he said, attempting to lay her on the blankets, but she shrieked and latched onto his arm.

He gave Rae a desperate look, through the dim firelight.

Rae set the now sleeping Andy down and moved over next to them.  She took Ann in her arms and laid down next to her on the blankets.  Ann snuggled up next to Rae and her sobs soon ceased as she fell asleep.

Spot wrinkled his nose, laying down next to Rae. "How do you women just do that?"

She smiled, "Woman's touch, I guess."

"I knew you were gonna say that."

Rae tried to roll over and mover closer to Spot, but Ann whimpered in her sleep and latched onto Rae's arm. Spot scooted over and put his arm around Rae's waist. "I reckon this is something we'll have to get used to."

She nodded.  "Hopefully we won't have too many more storms like this one."

Spot nodded. "Hopefully." 

* * *

The sun shone brightly into Rae's face the next morning.  When she woke up she found herself in the middle of a human sandwich.  Spot was still beside her, his arm around her waist.  Ann was still latched onto her other arm and Andy had moved in the night to cuddle up next to his sister for warmth. She laughed quietly and very carefully extracted herself from the mash. Stretching she walked out onto the beach, enjoying the quiet, stillness.

The beach was nice- clean and white. Storm washed up more wreckage. She grimaced and turned away from it for awhile. A few minutes later, a very sleepy Spot joined her. "Morning."

"Good morning." She kissed his cheek. "You're up already?"

"Ann uh... kicked me... if you know what I mean."

She stifled a giggle. "My poor baby," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

"Yeah, poor me," he replied, kissing her back. "That child can kick!"

Rae glanced over at the group of sleeping children. "They should sleep for a while longer, let's go for a walk."

He nodded and took her hand.

Just out of sight of the tent he turned to face her. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"

She blushed and smiled. "Not that I can think of at this moment... but you're welcome to tell me again," she added mischievously.

He took her face in his hands and rested his forehead against hers. "You know, I think you're more beautiful now then when you put that green dress on the day we found our house."

Rae smiled.

He kissed her on the tip of her nose and then went to kiss her on the lips, when a cheery voice called out, "Good morning Mr. Spot! Morning, Miss Rae."

With a grunt of annoyance, he turned, smiled, and the both of them waved to Ann, who was scampering across the sand to meet them.

"I'm hungry," she said, skidding to a stop in front of them.

"I should have known," he teased, ruffling her hair. "Wait until the others wake up though, okay?"

"Alright," she said.  Then she reached over and pulled on Rae's pant leg.

Rae looked down at her. "Yes?"

Ann motioned for her to come closer.

She crouched down next to her. "What is it?"

"I have to go to the bathroom," Ann whispered in her ear.

Smiling, she took her hand. "We'll be right back," she told Spot and then led her across the beach.

Spot smiled and headed back toward the tent to build a fire to warm their breakfast.

Andy was soon to awaken. Drowsily, he crawled over to Spot and rested his head on his shoulder, silently watching.

"How did you sleep?" Spot asked.

"I got cold," Andy answered. Then he yawned hugely. "I want scrabbled eggs."

"We don't have any eggs, Andy"

"Bacon?"

"No, not any bacon either."

"What do we have?"

Spot held up what he was cooking for breakfast.

"What... what IS that?"

Spot made a face, "I'm not sure, but we'll eat it anyway."

After a very long pause, Andy nodded. "I'm real hungry Mr. Spot." He pointed to his tummy, which growled, as if on cue.

Spot laughed.  "I think this is warm enough to be eaten," he said, handing the boy the can.

"How much can I eat?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Eat half and save the rest for Ann." Rapidly, Andy devoured his half. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Spot yelled at Chris and Julie. "We have work to do!"

Chris groaned and flung his hand in Spot's direction. Julie sat up sleepily and then jabbed her brother repeatedly in the side until he woke up. "Mr. Spot said to wake up, muttonhead."

"Aw, shut it, sheepface."

"Get up, Chris!" Spot called again.

"Alright," he groaned, sitting up and shaking the sand from his hair. "I'm up..."

Just then Ann came running back into camp, Rae following at a slower pace.

"Yay!" Ann shrieked. "Everyone's up! We can have breakfast!" She pounced before the fire.

Rae smiled. "How'd you get everyone up in such a short amount of time?"

"I just told them it was time to get up." Spot answered, kissing her cheek.

"And?" she inquired with a smile.

"They got up," Spot answered. "Although I was afraid that I was going to have to find a snow bank to dump Chris into," he teased.

Rae wrinkled her nose at him and smiled again, while Chris, not getting the joke, just snorted. She grinned mischievously. "I'll get you back for that one of these days."

"I don't doubt it."

Chris made a face. "Lover's jokes... how gross."

"Well, when you get to be 18 and 19, like Rae and me, respectively, such things aren't so 'gross' anymore."

"How old are you, anyway?" Rae inquired.

"13..."

"Then you have a LONG way to go," Spot commented with a smirk.

            Julie came and plopped down beside her brother, "I'm 10."

"You've got even longer to go then."

She shrugged, "Boys are gross"

"Girls are worse," her brother argued.

Rae waved her hands at them, "No fighting in the....tent..." she made a face.

"It isn't even a tent," Chris replied. "It's a... leaf roof... or something..."

"Well, it's the best we could do on such short notice. I don't pack with plans of a shipwreck when I go on a trip," Spot retorted.

"Boys!" Rae warned.  "You two can start on a better shelter, while the rest of us clean up the beach."

"Can't I clean up the beach with you?" Chris whined. "He's too mean and bossy!"

"She can be worse, trust me," Spot replied with an impish grin.

She glared at Spot, "You are already walking on thin ice, mister." He only smiled angelically. She sighed. "Anyway, Chris, Spot needs another pair of hands to help build a shelter and the twins are too little...and I need Julie to help keep an eye on them."

"Oh alright," Chris grumbled.

"Alright, everyone....let's get a move on it." Rae ordered.

            The children wandered off with Rae and Chris and Spot turned to face each other.

"We may as well get along, kid," Spot said after a long pause. "Who knows how long we'll be here."

Chris sighed. "I suppose you are right."

"Of course I am. Now come on. I haven't really ever built a house before, but I can tell that these branches aren't going to do us too much good if we don't figure out how to use them better."

"Right," Chris said, looking around.  He suddenly smiled. "What if we built a tree house?"

Spot crouched on the sand and looked at him. "Do you know how? I don't even know what a tree house is."

Chris stared at him in disbelief.

"What? There aren't many trees in Brooklyn."

Chris shook his head. "I built one with my father a few years ago.  I think I can remember how to build another one."

"Well, you'd better start remembering because I want to have as much as we can done by tonight."

"How 'bout we build a really nice one for Miss Rae? I'm sure we could find a good place not too far from the beach."

"I'd like that. And so would she... as long as YOU know what you're doing."

"Of course I do," Chris said, heading toward the woods.

The corner of Spot's mouth quirked up and he followed Chris.

Not too far from the beach there was a small clearing with a small, clear stream running through it. "Water!" they exclaimed simultaneously, delighted.

Kneeling down, Spot scooped some of the clear water into his hands and lifted it to his face. Chris, on the other hand, just dunked his whole head in.

Spot looked around the clearing. "So where are we going to build this thing?"

Looking around, Chris dried off his head briefly, and then pointed to a tall, thick tree. "That one'll be fine."

Spot stared at the tree for a moment.  "Could we use a couple of trees?  Stretch it out among several of the trees?"

He shrugged. "Sure, I guess. It'll take a lot longer to do, but sure."

"Then let's do it.".

"All right then... we need to find a way to cut down some trees."

"Let's go see if we can find a saw among the wreckage...Surely there would be one."

Again, Chris shrugged. "Reckon we ought to find one then." And he trooped out towards the beach again, not even caring whether or not Spot followed. Digging through the wreckage they were able to find a few rust covered tools with which to work. "Some saw," Chris muttered, holding up an ax. Spot rolled his eyes. "I guess this'll work though..."

"It will have too."

And off they went to try to build a tree house

* * *

Later that night they wearily drug themselves back to the small camp on the beach.

"It's about time," Rae commented, around a mouthful of canned vegetables. "What took so long?"

"We were building a house for you, Rae," Spot replied wearily. Julie handed him a plate and a stick-fork. "Who cooked this?"

"Julie."

Spot nodded.  Rae watched in amusement as the two of the kept dozing off while trying to eat their food. Just as Spot was about to drop face-first into his plate, she took it from him. "Why don't the both of you sleep? I'm sure Ann and Andy are hungry enough to eat your portions."

Chris didn't have to be told twice.  He handed his plate to Andy and crawled under the tent and was asleep as soon as his body hit the ground. Spot nodded mutely, mimicking Chris' actions and moments later, he too was out.

Rae laughed softly and gathered two blankets.  She stepped under the tent and covered Chris with one.  She then knelt beside Spot, covering him with the other blanket.  She kissed his cheek and crawled back out by the fire.

"What were they doing all this time, Miss Rae?" Ann asked around a mouthful of vegetables.

"Spot said something about building a house," Rae answered. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Ann."

She swallowed before continuing. "A house? Like the big one back home?"

Andy perked up. "With nice beds and a big playroom?"

"Sorry kiddos, but no.  This one will probably be very small and we will all be sleeping on the floor."

They pouted.

"Chris is good with construction stuff. He'll probably be able to come up with something... not SO small," Julie explained.

Rae nodded and turned to the twins, "Bedtime," she said.

"Right nowwww?" Andy whined.

"But I'm not tired Miss Rae," Ann argued, yawning while she did so.

"To bed," Rae ordered.

Grumbling under their breaths, they staggered towards the shelter where Chris and Spot already slept.

Rae and Julie gathered the plates that they had found that day and took ocean and washed them off as best they could.  When they got back to the tent they saw that Andy had curled up near Chris and Ann was sleeping near Spot.

Rae smiled. "I know who their favorite men of the camp are."

Julie laughed softly as she settled down on some blankets near her brother.  Rae lay down near Spot and Ann crawled over next to her.  "Ann, you should be sleeping."

"I can't..." she whimpered. "I'm scared."

Rae sighed. "Alright, come on," she said, patting the ground beside her.

Crawling over to her, Ann curled up against her. "I had a scary dream last night that monsters were coming to get you and Mr. Spot..."

"Monsters aren't going to get us Ann. Now close your eyes and go to sleep."

Ann whimpered. "I'm trying."

Rae rubbed the little girl's back.  "Just close your eyes.  I promise that no monsters are going to get us."

Burrowing next to Rae, she asked, "You promise promise?"

"I promise promise," Rae said, kissing her forehead.

Nodding slowly, she rested her head on Rae's stomach and fell asleep. Rae sighed.   She loved Ann dearly, but they had to do something to get her over her fear of monsters and storms and whatever else was keeping the small girl from sleeping at night. She glanced around the tent. Everyone was asleep except herself. Again, she sighed. Playing mommy for all these children was going to be keeping HER up all night!

* * *

When Spot opened his eyes the sun was already shining brightly.  He rolled over and smiled at the picture before him.  Rae was stretched out on a blanket with Ann's head resting on her stomach. Stifling a yawn, he sat up further. Chris and Julie were already awake, down the beach a bit, playing... together for once! Rising to his feet, he tousled Andy's hair, "Time to get up little guy."

Andy whimpered. "I don't wanna get up Mr. Spot."

"Sorry, buddy, I don't want to get up either, but we have work to do."

He sat up with a deep pout. "Why can Miss Rae and Ann still sleep?"

Spot sent the boy a look. "I'm going to wake them up right now."

With a sigh he stood up. "Mr. Spot, I have to go to the bathroom."

"Just a second." Spot said turning to Rae and Ann.  "Alright ladies, up and at 'em."

Ann rose quite readily, but Rae dozed on. With a sigh, he shook her shoulder again. "C'mon Rae. Don't make me throw you into the ocean."

She rolled over, completely unaware of the fact that he was trying to wake her up.

With a sigh, he gripped her shoulder and shook her harder. "Come on Rae. Get up. It's morning. The sun's shining, birds are chirping, and I REALLY don't want to throw you into that ocean!"

She hit his hand, but slept on.

Rolling up his sleeves, and spitting on his hands, he muttered, "Alright woman, you asked for it." Scooping her limp form up in his arms, and tromped on down to the ocean. Taking a deep breath, he heaved her into the water.

Chris and Julie turned at the sound of the splash.  What was Mr. Spot doing? Just then Rae surfaced with a deafening scream. And Spot bolted past them, laughing, with Rae on his heels. They watched in confusion as Rae chased him around the beach and finally dove at his feet.

With a yelp, Spot toppled face-first into the sand.

"Don't you ever wake me up like that again!" Rae yelled climbing to her feet and attempting to brush the sand from her wet clothes.

"Then wake up next time!" he replied with a laugh.

With a growl of frustration, she kicked some sand at him, before storming back to the tent.

"Aw, come on Rae, it was all in good fun," he called out, unsteadily climbing to his feet and trotting after him. Chris and Julie just exchanged glances and shrugged.

She stopped suddenly.   "Where are Ann and Andy?" she asked, looking around.

He shrugged. "I don't know... I thought they were with the other two..." He glanced back. "Ann?" he called. "Andy?"

Rae turned to Chris and Julie, "Have you two seen the twins?" she yelled.

"No!" they called back.

"Do you think they went into the woods, Spot?"

"With the way Ann is afraid of monsters?" He paused and frowned. "I guess we should check."

Rae took off down the small path that they had made, not even looking to see if Spot followed her. Quickly, he ran after her. "Ann?" they called. "Andy?!"

"Andy, Ann, you'd better answer us THIS INSTANT!" Rae yelled.

Rae stopped suddenly. "Did you hear that?"

Spot, unaware that Rae had stopped, collided with her. "Hear what?"

"Listen, I think I hear Ann," Rae whispered.

Straining to pick up the sounds of Ann's voice, he heard faint screeching strains, that was either a sick bird or Ann yelling.

"Come on," he said, following the sound through the trees.

Rae hurried after him. As they came closer to the screaming voices, her eyebrows quirked. "We'll be lucky if they're both alive by the time we find them, by the sounds of it."

"Think you can move a little faster?" Spot asked

"I'm trying, good grief."

After a few more minutes they broke through the brush and found the screaming Ann and Andy. Immediately, Spot grabbed each small shoulder and pushed them a part. "WHAT is going ON?!" he barked.

"He got us lost," Ann said.

"I did not! I knew where I was going. YOU got us lost!" Andy retorted.

"I did not," Ann yelled, swinging her arm at her brother.

Rae grabbed the arm mid-swing. "Oh no you don't. Come on you two, you both have some explaining to do, once we get back. You're in serious trouble."

The twins remained silent on the walk back to camp, although they were glaring at each other when they thought Rae and Spot weren't looking. "Knock it off you two," Spot said after the third or fourth glare.

When they got back to the camp Rae turned to face them, "Alright you two, explain!" she ordered.

"I had to go potty.... but Mr. Spot was busy waking you up," Andy explained. "So I asked Ann to show me where to go, but dumb ol' ANN didn't 'member-"

"I did too! And don't call me dumb!" his sister shrilled.

"ENOUGH!" Spot yelled.

They fell silent.

He looked at Rae. "What do you suppose is a suitable punishment?"

"I suppose we can send them to bed tonight without their dinner," Rae suggested.

"Buuut!" they yelped simultaneously.

"No buts. You two got yourselves into a mess of trouble- walking off without telling anyone, arguing..."

"And you are NOT allowed in the forest... I guess we should have made that clear in the first place," Rae mused.

"From now on, you two stay on the beach, unless me or Rae is with you. Got it?" Mutely, they nodded. "I can't hear you."

"Yessir," they replied simultaneously.

"Good." Spot turned to Chris, "Ready to get back to work?"

"Huh?... Oh, yeah... okay." Chris nodded and together, the two young men walked off.

Rae sighed. "Alright, kiddos, back to work," she said, pointing toward the piles of wreckage.

Silently they nodded and trudged back to work. Just before dark Rae told Julie and the twins that it was time to get dinner ready.  She left the twins playing quietly with some toy that had washed up with the ship's wreckage, while she and Julie warmed up the last of the canned goods.

Spot and Chris walked up a few minutes later, tired as they were before, but managing to sit up while dinner was cooking.  "Dinner's ready," Rae said, handing each of them a plate.  Ann and Andy came running over, waiting for their plates of food.

Spot held out his hand to stop them. "Nope. What did we say? To bed with the both of you."

"I'm hungry," Ann whimpered.

"But, Mr. Spot..." Andy protested.

Firmly he shook his head. "Nope. To bed."

Andy shoved his sister, "It's all your fault."

"No it's not, meanie!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"HEY!" Rae yelled. "Knock it off and go to bed NOW!"

Ann looked up at Rae in fear and quickly scampered to her place under the tent.

She sighed and turned to her meal, picking at it. Spot reached over and squeezed her hand. "It's okay," he said. She nodded, but handed her plate to Chris and walked away from the camp. Rising to his feet, Spot instructed the two elder children to watch the camp and followed Rae.

"I'm sorry, Spot," she said, when he stopped next to her.  "I know they needed to be punished, but I feel so horrible..."

He circled his arms around her. "I know... but we're doing the best we can, you know."

She sighed and leaned her head back against his shoulder.  "I'm a horrible mother."

He stroked her hair gently. "You are not. We're both just learning all of this stuff."

She turned to face him suddenly. "Spot, what if one day it takes more than missing a meal and being sent to bed early to punish them? What are we going to do?"

"Send them to Jack?"

She gave him a look.

"I'm only teasing... well.. By then, we'll be more experienced, and we'll probably know."

She nodded, "I suppose."

"Don't suppose. Because we will know." He kissed her. "And you are a fine mother. Especially for one being thrown into it so suddenly."

She sighed and rested her head on his chest. "I just wish I was as sure of that as you are."

"Come on," Spot said, leading her back toward the camp, "Maybe we can get back before Chris and Julie eat all of our dinner."

With a sigh, Rae let him pull her along.

* * *

Things went fairly smoothly for the next week.  Rae and Julie had managed to find some more canned goods among the wreckage, which was completely cleaned up now.  Spot and Chris had made great progress on the house, but they still had quite a ways to go, before they could move in.

It was a brand new day, still fairly early in the morning, and Chris and Spot had been working on the tree house for hours already. They had yet to break into one of their daily fistfights. While it appeared to Rae and Julie that they got along great, the two young men couldn't work together for more than a few hours without breaking into an argument about something.

"Hand me that hammer thing, would you?" Spot said, climbing down the tree house's rope ladder halfway and extending his hand.

"Come down and get it yourself, lazy," Chris replied.

"HAND IT HERE," Spot growled.

"I'm busy, ain't it obvious?" he retorted.

"Don't make me come all the way down there, Chris!"

"Oh no, Heaven forbid you get off your lazy butt and come get it yourself," he muttered, tossing the hammer at the foot of the rope ladder.

Spot climbed the rest of the way down the rope ladder, muttering words that he never would have muttered had Rae, Julie or the twins been around.  And suddenly a huge coil dropped around his shoulders.


	4. Chapter 4

** Chapter 4:**

Before Spot could react, a huge snake had dropped from the tree and was wrapping itself around him. He was stark frozen. He had never seen a snake before and certainly never imagined one this big could exist.

Chris was staring at him and him with wide-eyes.

"Kill it!" Spot hissed, as it's thin pink tongue flickered in his face. 

"With what?" Chris questioned, still staring, unmoving, at the huge snake.

"Rae's knife is over there with my shirt." Spot answered. "Do it now!" His voice had reached an unnaturally high screech as he caught sight of the snake's gaping maw heading for his head.

Chris headed over as quickly as he could and after a moment's hesitation he sank the knife into the snake's head. The beastly snake convulsed and after a few tight, spasmodic squeezes around Spot's neck, it collapsed onto the ground. Spot moved away from the snake quickly and then sank to the ground, leaning against a nearby tree.

Chris leaned over the snake and then shuddered. "You reckon there's more of 'em around? I mean.... this may not be a safe idea after all."

Spot crawled over to the small stream and stuck his head in the water. "It's too late now," he said, when he pulled his head out of the water.

"So you just wanna risk your wife and us kids because 'it's too late now'?" he retorted in a nasal voice.

Spot jumped to his feet. "Look, kid, we've been here nearly two weeks and that's the only one we've seen. If there were more, we would have seen them by now."

"Well how do you reckon he got here, huh?"

"I don't know, alright!"

Chris sighed and plopped down on the ground. "What are they gonna say when they find this... THING lying here?"

"The girls?" Spot asked. Chris nodded. "We just toss it out.... Don't say anything to them."

"Well... they're gonna ask about your bruises," Chris pointed out.

"Tell them we got into a fight. Or I fell over a log... They don't need to know about this... snake... thing!"

"I really don't think they will buy any lie we try to tell them. Especially Rae."

"Well what do you suggest we do? Tell them about the snake and scare them half to death?"

"I guess not, but if Rae finds out that we didn't tell her, she's not gonna be happy."

"Of course she isn't. But I don't see any other option."

Chris turned and looked at the snake, "I wonder if snake meat is any good," he mused.

Spot blanched and then looked at the snake again. "I don't know... maybe... But what do we tell the girls it is? Snake meat?"

"Don't tell them."

"If we give this to them, they will ask where we got it. Or at least Rae will."

"Can't we just tell her that we killed something, but didn't know what it was?"

After a pause, Spot nodded. "I guess we could."

Chris shuddered. "I guess we better get busy skinning the thing then."

"I don't even wanna touch that thing after it tried to kill me."

"I can't do it by myself!" Chris protested.

Spot made a big show of rolling his eyes and sighing before he sat down at the snake's tail. "You take its head. I've had enough of that part to last me a lifetime."

"You're the boss."

He grumbled under his breath and, grimacing, pried Rae's knife from the snake's head and began to skin it.

* * *

Rae glanced up from the shirt she was mending to see Ann sneaking back into the camp set up on the beach. Rae sighed. "Come here, sweetheart," she said softly. Ann jumped at the sound of her voice, and slowly walked toward Rae. "Were you playing in the woods?" Rae asked.

"No," Ann muttered, looking at the sand and slowly shaking her head.

Rae placed a finger under the girl's chin and forced Ann to look at her. "Were you playing in the woods after I told you not to?" Rae asked again.

Ann nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

Rae sighed again, stood and grabbed the little girl's hand. "Stay here Andy," she told the little boy and then led Ann to a secluded area of the beach. She sat on a large rock and turned Ann to face her. "You disobeyed me, Ann, didn't you?" Rae asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"And then you lied to me."

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm going to have to punish you Ann." Rae whispered, hesitantly. Ann nodded slowly, tears filling her eyes. Rae closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She grabbed Ann's arm and pulled the little girl across her lap, giving her a few, good, firm, smacks on her backside.

Ann wailed pitifully, wrenching at Rae's heart.

"Now you know not to disobey me, right?"

Sniffling and whimpering, she nodded.

Rae reached out to hug the little girl, but Ann shied away and took off running down the beach toward the camp.

Sighing despondently, Rae headed to the camp after her.

Spot walked into camp as Ann came running back into the camp, tears pouring down her little face. He caught her before she could go any further and picked her up. "What's the matter, sweetheart?"

"Miss Rae's mean and she hurt me," Ann cried.

"Why is Miss Rae mean and why did she hurt you?"

"She 'panked me."

"Why'd she do that?" He looked up as Rae approached.

"She went off into the forest though she knew she wasn't supposed to," Rae answered, then added, "Tell him what else you did Ann."

Her lip quivered.

"Come now, tell him what else you did."

"Please don't make me," she whimpered burying her head in his shoulder.

Rae sighed and gave Spot a look.

"Come on," he said. "Listen to Rae. What did you do?"

"I lied to Miss Rae," she sobbed.

Spot set her down. "Now why did you go and do a thing like that, Ann?"

"Cause I didn't want to get into trouble for going into the forest," Ann admitted, looking at the sand.

Spot's eyes widened. "You HAVE to stay away from there, you hear me?" he ordered.

She shrank back in fear and nodded, "Y-y-yes sir," she whimpered.

"Get back to the tent and stay there until I tell you that you can leave," Spot ordered roughly. Ann nodded and scurried over to the tent. "I don't want ANYONE going near there." He looked at Rae. "Not you, not Julie, not the twins. Got it?"

"Alright," she said sending him a confused look. "What's wrong? What did you see?" she asked.

"Nothing. What? What makes you think I saw anything? I just don't want you there. Is there a crime in that?"

She took his face in her hands and made him look her in the eye. "Spot, I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't be acting like this if something hadn't spooked you."

"I'm not spooked. Who said I was spooked?"

Rae sighed. "You don't have to tell me what's bothering you, but I wish you would."

Spot kissed her gently. "Nothing is bothering me."

Rae sighed and walked further away from the tent. Spot followed her, "What's the matter, Rae?" he asked, slipping his arms around her waist.

Rae shivered and leaned back against him, "I can't the sound of her pitiful wails out of my mind, Spot. Or the sight of her face."

He stroked her hair. "It's okay.... I'm sure it's something all parents go through."

Rae sighed again. "I'm going to go talk to her."

"All right then." He kissed her forehead and let her go on about her business.

Rae walked into the tent and stretched out on her stomach next to Ann. "Hey, Ann," she said, softly.

The little girl made a soft noise of protest and wiggled away a bit.

Rae sat up. "Come here Ann."

Slowly she sat up trudged over to her and sat down.

Rae pulled the little girl into her lap and although Ann wiggled to get away, she held her firmly there. "Ann, I didn't want to spank you."

"But you did," she replied through a pout.

"Because I had too."

Ann whimpered and tears ran down her face again.

Rae hugged the girl tighter against her. "I love you Ann," she whispered, kissing the girl's dirty head. The little girl just cried and clung to her. Rae closed her eyes as tears rolled down her own cheeks. No matter what anyone else said, this child was hers.

After awhile Rae realized that Ann had cried herself to sleep. She gingerly laid the girl down and crept out of the tent. Spot was pacing aimlessly a little way down the beach and saw her emerge. He walked over and gave her a hug. She leaned her head wearily against his chest. "I don't know how much longer I can stand this," she moaned.

He stroked her hair. "Hey, it's ok. We're gonna be just fine."

She lifted her head and looked up at him. "You promise?" He nodded. "I love you, Spot." 

He smiled down at her. "I love you too." Then he leaned down to kiss her. She responded immediately, wrapping her arms around him. They held on to each other like that for a few minutes, realizing why most couples waited awhile to acquire four children.

"EEEEEWWWW!" Andy suddenly yelled, "Julie, Miss Rae and Mr. Spot are kissing!" The couple broke apart, Rae slightly pink and Spot laughing.

"That's right, Andy," he said, "And one day, I bet you won't think it's so gross." 

Andy made a horrified face. "No I won't!" he exclaimed, shaking his head violently, "Girls got cooties!"

Spot smiled. "Rae's a girl; Ann's a girl; Julie's a girl... Do THEY have cooties?"

Andy looked from Rae to Julie. "No," he answered, shaking his head.

"Then maybe the girl for you won't have cooties either," Rae said with a half-irritated smile of her own.

Andy wrinkled his nose, "All other girls are gross"

"Oh, is that a fact? Are you sure you want to come to that so quickly?"

The Infamous Rae Kelly says:

Andy thought about it for a moment. "Yes."

"All right then. When you're old and married like me and Spot, I'm going to tell your wife that!"

Andy shrugged and went back to the mound of sand that he had been playing with.

Rae shook her head, chuckling. Julie rolled her eyes and sat back down on the sand next to Andy.

Spot looked at Rae and put his arm around her waist. "So much for that," he mused thoughtfully.

"Yep," she replied, turning to face him.

He rested his forehead on hers. "I really hope we get off this island soon."

She sighed, "Me too." She stepped back suddenly. "When can I see this house that you keep claiming that you are building?"

"When it's done, when it's done. We're close."

She pouted and rested her head on his chest. "Please, Spot?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Nope, nope. You'll just have to wait like the rest of them."

"You're so mean."

"I am. I really am. One of these days we'll have to cure that of me," he teased.

She reached up and pulling his head down, she kissed him. Chuckling in his throat, he kissed her back.

"Ewwwww!" Andy shrieked again.


	5. Chapter 5

** Chapter 5:**

** Chapter 5:**

Chris watched as Spot finished hanging the crude door on one of the rooms of the tree house they had built. "How come you and Rae get a real door and the rest of us get pieces of the sail?"

"Because I said so, that's why. We're married. We get special privileges."

Chris muttered a word that he had often heard Spot say when they were working on the house. Spot sent the boy a look. "We're going to have to clean up our language."

Chris made a face. "Then you'd better clean up yours. You're the one I get it from."

Spot snickered. "Point taken. What else do we have to do?"

"Finish the roof and make a sturdier ladder and we're done."

"I'll take the roof, you take the ladder."

Chris nodded and climbed down the rope ladder to construct a wooden one.

Two hours later he climbed back up the new wooden ladder. "Ladder's done, Spot."

Spot gave him a very annoyed look, because he had spent the last twenty minutes trying to figure out how to piece the last board on to the roof. Chris climbed up on the roof. "Need any help?"

"If you would be so kind," he replied thinly, clearly frustrated. Chris took the board and placed it on the roof, covering the hole in the roof perfectly. "How did you do that?" Spot asked.

"I told you, I've done this before." Chris answered.

Wrinkling his nose, he scowled and climbed down the ladder. "Well... I reckon it's time to get the girls... and Andy."

"Do you want to show Rae first?" Chris asked. "You could always blindfold her when you bring her back here."

He smiled. "Sure. She's been dying to see it."

"I'll keep Julie and the twins on the beach."

"Thanks." Spot turned and took one last look at the house that they had built, before heading toward the beach.

When they had reached camp, Spot grabbed a scrap of clothing from one of Rae's mending projects and called for her. "I have a surprise."

"What?" she asked, looking up from the sand castle that she was attempting to build with the twins

"No questions," he ordered, putting the blindfold over her eyes and taking her hand. 

"Where are you taking me?" she questioned.

"I said no questions. Just trust me."

"Spot..."

"Hmm?"

"I love you," she whispered. He laughed, "I love you too, but I'm not answering your questions."

"Come on Spot!" she whined.

He stopped and pulled her into his arms. He leaned down and kissed her.

"That was nice, but I still want you to tell me!" she exclaimed after he broke the kiss.

Spot laughed. "I'm not telling you yet, Rae, give me another minute or two and I'll take the blindfold off." She pouted. "Don't give me that pout. I'm not looking at it anymore anyway, so it's not going to work," he teased.

"Spot," she whined

"Uh uh. Patience my dear."

"Fine," she said, crossing her arms. "Hurry up though."

Spot smirked. "I am, I am. Almost there.... Okay, stop here." Stepping behind her, he pulled the blindfold off. "What do you think?"

"I don't see anything." she said.

He laughed. "Look up."

She looked up and her jaw dropped. "Is that..."

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the ladder. "I'd carry you over the threshold, but I don't think you'd enjoy me carrying you over my shoulder up the ladder."

She smiled delightedly. "This is so wonderful! You and Chris did this yourselves?!"

"All for you, my love," he said, kissing her cheek.

Rae smiled and slipped her arms around his waist. "I love it. I love you."

"I love you too," he said, leaning down to kiss her.

He pulled back, "Do you want to see this house or not?" he asked with a smirk.

"Of course, of course! I've been dying to see it!"

"I'm counting to five and if you haven't started climbing up that ladder I'll throw you over my shoulder and take you up myself."

With a laugh, she ran over to the ladder and started climbing. "You'd better be coming mister."

"Right behind you," he yelled.

Rae climbed up into the tree house, hoisting herself up onto the narrow platform. She walked through the door and gasped. "Wow! I thought this was just going to be one big room... but you've got three built!"

He pointed to a room closed off by a piece of the ship's sail. "That's for the kids," then he pointed to the door, "And that's for us."

'Oohing' and 'ahhing', she explored the different rooms. They were very small- only able to hold a couple of pallets and a bit of playing space in each room, but she was amazed just the same. She reached to push open the door to their room, when he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him.

"I love you," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her.

"Spot!" she gasped in surprise, smiling just a hint.

"Oh wow!"

"Look at that!"

"Jiminy," they heard from below.

Stepping back from Rae with a frown, Spot whacked his head on the wall. "Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Rae asked, snickering just slightly.

"Yeah..." Leaving the room, he poked his head out the door. "Come on up, kids," he yelled

"Yay!" the twins shrieked, climbing up the ladder one by one, with Julie at their heels. Chris was not far off.

When Ann reached the platform she leaped into Spot's arms. "I like our new house, Mr. Spot."

He smiled. "Do you like it better than our old one?"

"Nah, the old one was better. Can we take Chris and Julie with us to our old house?"

"Maybe. Depends on what they want... and what Rae and I decide after some discussion."

"Alright," she said as he set her down. She ran over to Julie and took her hand, leading the older girl as they explored the new house.

Andy hung close to Spot. "Are we sleepin' here t'night?"

"Yep. From now on we sleep here."

"How will anyone find us if we ain't sleeping on the beach?"

Rae exchanged a glance with Spot.

"Well um Andy... that's a very good question... Maybe one Rae can answer." He shrugged at her helplessly.

"Andy, I doubt anyone is going to be looking for us at night. Even if they were I don't think they could see that far."

"Oh..." Andy shrugged and skittered off to explore the room. "Which one is mine?"

"You and me get to share this one," Chris said, pushing aside one of the curtains.

"Oh.... Neat! I don't like sharing my room with Ann anyway."

"HEY!" Ann yelled.

Andy poked his head out the door and stuck his tongue out at his sister.

She blew a raspberry at him and then flounced off into the room that she and Julie were going to share.

Rae giggled. "Some things will never change."

Spot smiled. "Not at all."

* * *

Later that night they all sat around the table that Spot and Chris had managed to build. Noticing Ann's and Andy's huge yawns, Rae said, "I think it's some little ones' bedtime."

"But Miss Rae..."

"I'm not tired..."

"No arguing with Rae," Spot commanded sternly.

Pouting the twins walked toward their rooms. Ann stopped at the door to her room, "Are you going to come tuck us in, like you used to do at our old house?"

"We can do that," Spot said with a nod and a smile.

She grinned at him and walked into her room.

Grumbling, Andy trudged into his. The big kids got to stay up!

Chris saw the look on his face. "I'll be there in a minute Andy. I'm pretty tired myself." Andy sighed but looked a little less mad, and he went to bed.

"Thank you Chris," Rae said after Andy had left.

"It's no problem. I am tired." Chris said, standing and grabbing his plate and Andy's and took them to the small counter. "G'Night."

"I guess I should go to bed too," Julie said, standing. "Night."

"We'll be in to say goodnight in a minute." Rae said.

She nodded and disappeared behind the curtain.

Rae moved over closer to Spot and snuggled up against him, "That was almost too easy."

Spot smiled. "But you know one of them will be up with us in minutes, like always."

She sighed. "I know."

"I reckon it's we should tuck them in before one of them DOES wander in, wondering where we are." Spot pulled her to a stand and they walked into Ann and Julie's room.

Rae knelt beside Ann's bed and pulled the blanket up around the little girl's shoulders. "I love you Ann," she whispered, kissing her forehead, "Good night and sweet dreams."

"'Night," she murmured with a huge yawn.

"Sleep well," Rae whispered, brushing a lock of her from the girl's face and standing.

Spot did much the same goodnight routine and glanced at Julie. "She's out like a light. Faster than I reckoned."

Rae tucked the blanket tighter around Julie and nodded. "Let's go tell the boys goodnight." He nodded and they headed into the boys' rooms.

Chris was already fast asleep as they knelt beside Andy's bed.

Spot ruffled Andy's hair. "Night, little man." He kissed the top of his head.

"I still ain't tired Mr. Spot," he said with a yawn.

Rae smiled. "You will be in the morning if you don't sleep now." she said, kissing his forehead.

He sighed and rolled onto his side. "Night Miss Rae, night Mr. Spot."

"Goodnight, sweetheart," Rae said.

Taking Rae's hand, Spot led her from the room. "Well.. that was easy enough... I hope Ann's nightmares will end tonight... Because you sleep too hard and she wakes me up instead," he said with a grin.

"You're just jealous that I can sleep through her nightmares."

"That I am."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, pulling his head down and kissing him.

He smiled, kissing her back. "No you aren't. I know you're happy to sleep in through it," he teased.

"You're right," she said with a smirk.

* * *

Chris packed up a sack in an old scrap of fabric. Spot, passing by the little room, poked his head in.

"What are you doing, Chris?"

"I'm going to look on the other side of the island. Maybe there are people over there."

"I don't think so." Spot firmly shook his head.

"Aww, come on, Spot! Someone needs to go find out, and you have to stay here with Rae and the girls."

"First of all, I don't HAVE to stay anywhere.... I trust them. And second, I said no."

"Spot..." Chris started

"No," he said firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because I said so... Besides, you don't know if any of those snakes are still around."

With a frustrated sigh, Chris threw the bag on the floor and pushed past Spot, "I'm going to go sit on the beach."

He sighed in frustration. 'That kid is a problem,' he thought.

Later that night after everyone was asleep Chris grabbed the sack that he had earlier thrown aside and crept toward the ladder. As he passed the girl's room Ann stepped out, sleepily rubbing her eyes, "Where ya goin' Chris?"

"Nowhere, just go to sleep Ann," he replied gruffly, flitting his hand towards her.

She nodded wearily and walked back into her room.

With a nod to himself, he left the tree house, swinging himself down the ladder and out into the forest.

He walked for an hour before he decided to sit and take a break and get his bearings. He sat down against a tree and closed his eyes when a little voice startled him. "Where are we going, Chris?" Whirling around, he saw Ann standing behind him.

"What the? We? No, no, no... Not we. I'm taking you back home. Why are you here anyway? I told you to go back to bed."

Her lower lip began to quiver. "I'm sorry, Chris."

He sighed, exasperated. "Don't start crying now."

"Are you mad at me Chris?" she asked, trying very hard to keep her tears from falling.

"YES!" Chris yelled, standing up and storming away from her. He walked a few more steps before he cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

"Chris?" Ann looked like she intended to step over to him, stopped, and then crept over to him slowly. "Are you okay?"

"I hurt my ankle." Chris said.

She sat down on her knees next to him. "Did you trip on something?"

"I stepped on something and fell off." Chris said. "Listen, you've got to go back and get Spot."

Ann yawned and protested, "But there are monsters in the woods."

He sighed. "No there aren't. We're in the woods now, and we haven't seen any monsters."

"But there are! I heard you and Mr. Spot talking about them!... And Miss Rae will be mad if I go in the woods by myself again."

Chris sighed. "Ann, there are no monsters..." he stopped when she yawned again. "You'll never make it, you're too tired. Why don't you get some sleep and then you can head back in the morning."

She nodded and crawled over to him, resting her head on his lap. A few minutes later, she was fast asleep. He smiled slightly and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. She was a cute kid, even if she was annoying. Resting his head back against a tree, he sighed. Now what? Rae and Spot would kill him.... if they could find him. He glared at his throbbing ankle. "There goes my chance of getting back."

* * *

"Mr. Spot, Mr. Spot," Andy said shaking Spot's shoulder.

Spot groaned, rolling onto his back. The sun was barely even up. "What is it Andy? Ain't it early for you to be up?"

"Chris isn't in his bed."

"What?" Sleepily, he sat up. "Are you sure he isn't off using the bathroom?"

"He left sometime during the night, Mr. Spot."

Spot groaned. "I'm gonna kill that boy..." Grabbing Rae's arm, he pulled her to her feet. "Wake up, Rae. C'mon, wake up."

"What?" she mumbled, trying to hold her head up.

"Chris's ran off."

Her head snapped up, "Are you sure?"

"That's what Andy says."

Julie poked her head in the door, yawning, "Where's Ann?"

Rae stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"She not in our room, did she come in here last night?"

"No..." Rae looked at Spot. "Do you think she went off with Chris?"

"With the way those two argue?"

He shrugged. "It's possible."

Rae nodded. "Andy and I will take the beach, you and Julie..."

"NO! You and Andy and Julie are staying here, I'll go find them."

She gave Spot a look. "And why not?"

"Because there are these really big snakes out there. I don't want any of you getting..."

"SPOT!"

He stopped. "What?"

"What's this about a big snake?" she asked, her hands on her hips.

"Uh... I didn't say anything about a big snake.. did I?"

Julie and Andy nodded.

"Alright mister, spill," Rae said, glaring at him.

"Uh... well..." Spot scratched his head. "When... um.... Chris and I were building the tree house... a snake- a giant sucker, too- sorta fell out and might have killed me...."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

"Um.. I didn't want you worrying?" Rae crossed her arms and glared at him. "I don't know! You just had a lot on your mind! I don't know why I didn't tell you..."

Rae held up her hand to stop him. "We'll finish this later. Right now we have to find Ann and Chris. Julie, Andy stay here while Spot AND I go find them."

They nodded at her, wide-eyed. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

Ann sat up and yawned. "Chris," she said, shaking his shoulder.

"What?" he muttered gruffly, not pleased at being awoken.

"It's morning."

He groaned. "That's nice. Now let me sleep some more."

"But we gotta go back before Mr. Spot and Miss Rae find out we're not there."

With another groan, he sat up, shaking the leaves from his hair. "I guess you're right."

He stood and tried to walk only to fall back to the ground in pain. "I can't walk Ann. You are gonna have to go get Spot and bring him back here."

Ann stared at him, wide-eyed with fear. "But I..." She pointed back. "But I.. I'm scared! I can't do it by myself!"

Chris sighed. "Ann I can't go with you."

Her bottom lip quivered, but she straightened as dignifiedly as a scared little five year old could. "Okay then... Um... what way do I have to go?"

"That way," Chris pointed.

Ann glanced back at him. "You just stay right there, Chris. I'll find them fast, okay? I ... I think..." And then she scurried away.

"Be careful," he yelled. Seconds later, Ann was returning, with Spot and Rae at her heels. Chris stared at them in disbelief. When she said fast, she meant fast!

"I found them! I found them!"

Spot stood over Chris and glared down at him, "You have a lot of explaining to do."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

Chris turned his head away and scowled.

"Answer me," Spot said, nudging the boy with his foot.

"You know what I was doing... I was seeing if there was anyone else on the island."

"First you disobey me, THEN you bring Ann along, causing her to disobey too."

"-I- didn't bring her along. I told her to stay home. She followed me."

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

He looked down, scowling more. "I know... But I did. Can't change that, can you?"

"No I can't. But that doesn't mean that you both aren't in trouble," Spot said, sending Ann a look.

Ann sulked. "I was only making sure he didn't go alone.... Miss Rae said we weren't supposed to go into the woods alone...."

Rae turned the little girl to face her.  "You weren't supposed to go in the woods without me or Spot."

Ann whimpered and tears filled her eyes. "Are ya gonna 'pank me again?"

Rae looked over Ann's head at Spot.

Spot sighed and shook his head. "Not this time.... but next time you're in trouble missy."

Ann wrapped her arms around Rae's neck, "I'm really sorry Miss Rae."

Sighing, she hugged the girl. "It's okay. Just don't ever do it again. We were worried about the both of you."

Ann pulled back, "Chris is hurt!"

She looked over at him. "What happened?"

"I turned my ankle." Chris said, looking down at his swollen ankle.

Spot crouched down next to him. "All right. Take off your shoe. Let me see."

Chris tried to ease his shoe off, but winced in pain.

Spot pulled his shoe off for him and gingerly prodded the ankle. "Well, looks like you banged this up pretty well, my friend."

"I can't put any weight on it.  I already tried."

Already, he was grabbing both of Chris' arms and heaving him onto his back with a grunt. "I'll just carry you back."

"Spot, please be careful," Rae said, lifting Ann into her arms.

"I am." He paused to grunt again. "I am, don't worry."

* * *

"What if a snake got them Julie?" Andy asked as he and Julie waited rather impatiently in the tree house.

"I doubt a snake would have gotten them. Spot and Rae and Chris would have been strong enough to fight one little snake, don't you think?"

"I guess." Andy said starting to pace. "Where are they?"

"I'm sure they're on their way back," Julie replied soothingly.

"JULIE, BRING ME THAT SAC OF RAGS!" Rae yelled from below.

They both jumped, startled. "See, told you!" Julie grabbed the sack and scurried down the ladder to where Rae and Spot were standing over Chris "What happened?" she asked, eyeing her brother curiously.

"I hurt my ankle." he said as Rae knelt in front of him. She carefully took the ankle in her hands and began to wrap it tightly.

"Where were you? Was Ann there too?"

"I don't know where we were." Chris answered.

She shook her head. "If Papa would have been here... Ooh, you would have been in so much trouble!"

"I'm already in trouble," he muttered, looking up at Spot.

"That you are," Spot agreed.

Chris sighed, "What's my punishment?"

Spot looked at Rae. "What do you think it should be, dear?"

"He's going to be laid up with this ankle for a few days possibly two weeks, so I think his having to stay up in the tree house is going to be punishment enough." Rae suggested.

"Good idea and it sounds like a good punishment for Miss Ann too." Spot replied, looking at the little girl.

Ann pouted, but she didn't argue. It seemed as though she might have learned her lesson earlier on.

Rae stood. "I've done all I can for that ankle Chris. You'll just have to stay off of it until it heals."

With a sigh, he grumbled under his breath, but nodded. "How am I getting up there?"

"I guess I'll have to carry you up," Spot said.

Rae arched her brow. "Are you sure you can do it?"

"Unless he thinks he can get up there by himself, then I'll have to."

"If you fall and kill yourself, I'll kill you," she threatened.

"Hey! What about me? If he gets killed so will I!" Chris yelped.

"Okay, I'll kill him for you too."

Chris rolled his eyes. "I think if you can just get me over to the ladder I can hop up one rung at a time."

"Much better," she praised. "Come on Spot.  Help me."

They lifted the boy to his feet and each slung one of his arms around their shoulders.

"You need to cut back on the fish, Chris," Spot groaned, but he smirked teasingly.

He just scowled.

"Lighten up, Chris." Rae said as they helped him over to the ladder.

Spot burst out laughing. "Lighten up, get it? Cut back on the fish... lighten up?" He regaled in laughter.

"Shut up!" Both Rae and Chris muttered.

"What?" he grumbled. "It was funny."

Rae just rolled her eyes and stopped at the base of the ladder. With a grunt, Chris pulled himself up slowly. Once he reached the top, Rae quickly crawled up the ladder to help him to a seat.

Spot ushered Ann towards the ladder. "Come on. Up you go too."

"Do I have to, Mr. Spot?" she asked, sending him a pleading look.

He nodded firmly. "Yes you do. Come on now."

Ann pouted, but scampered up the ladder.

Shaking his head, he followed her. "Julie, you can bring Andy up if you're watching him," he said, looking down at them.

"Yes sir," Julie said.

He smiled at her and entered the tree house.

Chris was sitting in the big room; grumbling and complaining about have to be still.

"Well if you didn't run out, you wouldn't be in this predicament, would you?" Spot asked, arching a brow at him.

"I guess not," Chris muttered, "but I don't have to be happy about this."

"Well, you need some suffering for disobeying us," he replied with a smirk.

Chris glared at him, but didn't say anything.

Spot's stomach growled loudly. "Geez, I'm starving..." He glanced at Rae. "A little late for breakfast... but maybe a brunch would do. Let's have it on the beach, what do you say? Julie and Andy could go swimming."

"What about us Mr. Spot?" Ann whined.

"We're in trouble, remember?" Chris snapped.

She pouted again.

"Sounds like a good idea, Spot." Rae said.

"All right then." They moved to pack up their brunch and went to round up Andy and Julie.

"You two behave," Rae ordered as they climbed down the ladder. "No fighting."

"Like I could do anything!" Chris yelled after them.

Rae and Spot looked at one another and bit back laughs.

Once they were gone Ann plopped down on the floor beside him. "This is your fault."

He shrugged. "If you hadn't followed me, you wouldn't be in trouble little missy." Ann grunted and crossed her arms. "You know I'm right kiddo."

She turned and stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled her eyes and stuck his tongue out right back at her.

Ann sighed, "Chris?" she whispered.

"What?"

"I'm tired and hungry."

"Well... I don't know what to do..." Pulling himself to his knees, then to one foot, he hopped unsteadily across the floor. "What do you want to eat? Canned ... meat? Or canned fruit?"

"Fruit please."

He smashed a sharp rock into the tin lid until it poked a hole and, pressing some of the metal away, he gave her a stick-fork and took one for himself. "Eat up."

"Thanks Chris" she whispered, hastily eating the food.

"Eh..." He shrugged. "I was hungry too."

When Ann finished she stood and looked at Chris, "If you're finished I'll take that back to the table for you," she offered.

Taking one last stab at the fruit, he shoved it in his mouth and nodded, handing her the can. "Thanks."

She set the cans on the table and sat back down beside him.  "Will you tuck me in for a nap?"

He sighed. "I ain't Spot or Rae."

She gave him a pleading look, and again he sighed.

"Oh... alright... I guess I can." He struggled to his feet again and followed her to her room.  She crawled in her bed and he roughly pulled the covers up over her shoulders.

He turned to leave, but she quickly whispered, "You're supposed to sit with me until I fall asleep."

"Ann," he groaned. Seeing the look on her face, he sighed again.  "Fine, fine."

He sat down beside her and she looked up at him. "Will you hold my hand?"

"Ain't this enough?"

She shook her head, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

Hastily, Chris grabbed her hand. "Okay, I'm holding your hand. Stop crying already."

She shoved his hand away and rolled away from him, tears rolling down her cheeks.  "You don't like me."

He sighed heavily. "It ain't that I don't like you... You just... drive me nuts... is all."

"But you like Andy," she sobbed.

He sighed again, not really knowing what to say.

"You don't have to stay," Ann said, burying her head in her pillow.

"No.. I'll stay."

She rolled over and peered up at him through tear-filled eyes, "You will?"

He nodded. "Yeah... I guess I could. Wouldn't hurt me none, now would it?"

She crawled over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Thank you Chris!"

"Hey, hey, you're choking me," he said gruffly, trying not to smile.

She sat back on the bed beside him. "I'm sorry Chris"

"It's okay just... just go to sleep."

She smiled and settled back down under her blankets.  She was asleep as soon as her little head hit her pillow.

Leaning his own head back against the wall, Chris sighed again, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

* * *

"Well, the house is still there," Rae said when she, Spot, Julie and Andy returned from the beach.

"Yep," Spot said, shifting the sleeping Andy in his arms.  "Let's hope we find the two of them still alive when we get up there."

She nodded. One after another, Spot with Andy over his shoulder, Rae, and Julie climbed up the ladder.

"It's awful quiet," Rae said thoughtfully. "I expected lots of yelling..." When she got to the top she looked first in the boys room and then in the girls room where she stopped in the doorway, a smile on her face.

"What?" Spot inquired, emerging from the boys' bedroom after setting Andy down.

"Come see," she whispered.

He peered over her shoulder. "Well I'll be..." he whispered.

Chris was sitting on the edge of Ann's bed, leaning against the wall sleeping and she was curled up next to him, holding his hand.

"Wish Denton was here to snap a picture," she murmured with a smile, leaning her head against the doorway.

Spot chuckled softly. "Should we wake them?"

"Nah, they had a rough night."

"Besides," she added. "You think I want to wake that up? They're actually getting along. In their sleep, certainly, but it's better than nothing!"

He grinned at her, "Julie can keep an eye on these three, let's go back to the beach, just the two of us."

She took his hand. "Sounds like a plan."

They walked back to the beach, and sat down under the tent, which they had left up, hoping that a passing ship would see it and stop to investigate.  

"What do you think about them?" Rae asked.

Spot lifted an eyebrow at her. "Who?"

"Julie and Chris... what are we going to do with them?"

"They said their father was in London," Spot said.

"But do we know for sure that they are telling the truth?" Rae asked.

He shrugged. "Guess... guess we don't... But... Rae, are you suggesting we keep them?"

"I guess I am. I don't know.  We have plenty of room."

"Well... you're right on that... if the owners of the house haven't returned yet."

"We can only hope that they haven't."

"Hope real hard."

She rested her head on his shoulder.  "What do you think happened to them?"

He shrugged, tilting his head on top of hers. "I don't know. Hopefully nothing bad..."

"Part of me hopes that they never come back."

"Yeah... We lucked out, finding that house. I just hope our luck comes back to let us return."

"I'm sure a boat is bound to come by here soon."

He kissed the top of her head. "Just keep praying for it."

She snuggled closer to him. "What if Chris and Julie get to London and can't find their father?"

"I don't know." He circled his arms around her waist. "I guess we could keep them for a while. Let them write their pop to see if he really IS in London. Then we can decide from there..."

"You mean it?" she asked, looking up at him.

With a nod, he said with a smile, "You'd end up talking me into it anyway."

She leaned up and kissed him.

"I love you Rae Conlon..." He smiled. "And I think my last name suits you better."

"Oh really?" she asked with a smirk.

"Yes, really."

"How so?"

"Because I said so." He grinned impishly.

She poked him in the ribs. "And that's supposed to mean something?"

He chuckled. "Of course. I am Spot Conlon. Everything I say means something."

"Oh you," she said, sounding slightly exasperated.

"Yes, I know. It's ingrained. You ain't ever gonna get rid of it," he teased.

She leaned over and kissed him, "But I can sure try."

He grinned, kissing her back. "I'm sure you can."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, "I love you Conlon."

"I love you more, Conlon." He paused to laugh a bit and then kissed her again.

She giggled. "I never thought anyone would call me that."

"Well you'd better get used to it. Because I'm pretty sure it will happen more often."

"And what if I don't want them to?" she teased.

"Then I'd make sure they did all the more." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"How?" she retorted with a grin.

"Oh, I have my ways," he replied mysteriously.

"Oh?" she asked, leaning toward him.

He nodded, leaning towards her as well. "Yeah."

"I love you Spot."

"Not as much as I love you."

She pulled his head toward hers. "Wanna bet," she whispered and then kissed him before he could respond.

When their kiss broke, he tilted his head to the side. "Eh, I don't think I'm convinced. Let me show you how to REALLY kiss," he teased, and kissed her.

* * *

The next two weeks seemed to fly by.  Chris' ankle healed rather quickly, but he was still limping on it some.  The whole family was sitting down to lunch enjoying a cool breeze in their open-walled tree house.

"What's the matter Spot?" Rae inquired, watching him pick at his lunch. His face was a little pale, and dark smudges under his eyes made them appear sunken in.

"Just a little tired," he said.  He grabbed the tin mug that he and Rae had been sharing and headed toward the bucket full of water.  Halfway there he collapsed, dropping heavily to the floor, the mug hitting the boards with a loud clang.

Dropping her stick-fork on the table, Rae leapt to her feet and ran over to his unconscious form. "Spot? Spot!" She sat next to him, shaking him, worried out of her mind. Spot wouldn't just collapse over anything... She placed her hand on his face. "He's burning up! Julie get me some rags. Chris, water, now!"

Without question, they complied. Andy approached her side. "M... Miss Rae... Why... why'd Mr. Spot fall down?" he asked hesitantly.

"I don't know Andy, but stay back!" she ordered, motioning for him back away.  Rae lifted Spot's head into her lap and dipped one of the rags into the water.  She gently began to wash his face, hoping to wake him up.

With a groan, Spot coughed and opened his eyes, squinting at Rae. "What... happened?"

"You collapsed," she said, brushing his hair from his face.  "You are going straight to bed."

"What? No, I'm okay." He struggled to sit up, but Rae firmly pushed him back down and sat on his chest.

"You are not getting up until you agree. You're sick."

He coughed.  "Alright."

Standing, she helped pull him up and then led him to bed. "Now you get some sleep," she ordered, kissing his cheek.

"Rae, I'm fine, honest..."

"Don't argue with me, please."

"Only if you sit here with me."

She nodded. "Just one moment, I'm going to help the children clean up. I'll be right back."

He nodded and rolled over as she left the room.

"Everyone... I'm going to stay with Spot for the night... Or at least until he falls asleep. TRY to play quietly together, please," Rae said, gathering the dishes and dumping them into the water, where Chris had situated himself to clean them.

"Yes ma'am," they chirped simultaneously.

Rae gathered the bowl of water and the rag off the floor and carried them into her room with her.  She set them on the floor beside the bed and sat down beside Spot.

Slowly, Spot opened his eyes again. "Well," he teased with a weak grin. "That took you long enough."

"Shh!" she said, cradling his face with her hands.  "Go to sleep."

"I'm trying. But then I cough and it wakes me up again."

"I'll be right back," she whispered, jumping to her feet and hurrying from the room.  She gathered up a few extra blankets and one of the cups before heading back to the room.  "Sit up," she said, dropping back to the floor beside him.

Without much protest, he obeyed, sitting up. "What are you doing?"

She folded the blankets and placed them behind his head.  "It'll help if you aren't flat on your back."

He leaned back and shifted his shoulders to get comfortable. Taking her hand, he kissed it. "Thank you."

"Your welcome, darling," she said.  "If you'll move over a bit, I'll lay next to you for a little while."

He scooted over. "That enough room?"

"Plenty," she said, sitting next to him. "Now try to get some sleep. It will make you feel better."

"Yes ma'am." With a smile, he saluted her limply before closing his eyes.

She waited until he was sleeping before moving.  She stood and walked back out into the main room, and sank wearily into a chair.

Ann crawled over to Rae. "Miss Rae, what's wrong with Mr. Spot?"

Rae pulled the girl into her lap. "I don't know sweetheart.  But we'll just let him get lots of rest and hope he gets better soon."

She nods a little. "I wish we were back home," she whimpered, tucking her head under Rae's chin.

"I know Ann," Rae said, brushing a stray lock of hair from Ann's face.  She gasped and turned Ann to face her.  "Ann, do you feel sick?"

She looked at her worriedly. "Me? No... I... I don't know... no..."

"You feel warm.  Maybe it would be a good idea if you go take a nap too.  Don't want you getting sick too."

She whimpered. "I don't wanna take a nap..." 

"Please, sweetheart," Rae said, kissing the little girl's forehead.

"Nooooo," she whined, kicking her feet out in all directions.

Rae picked up the screaming girl and carried her into the girls' room and set her down hard on the pallet on the floor.

"I don't wanna go to bed! I don't wanna go to bed!"

"Ann, whether or not you want to, you are going to. And what did I tell you about keeping it quiet so Spot could sleep?" she scolded.

Ann quieted, "Are you gonna 'pank me?" she asked quietly.

"I'm tempted too," Rae said sending her a look.

Whimpering, she pulled her blanket over her head and held it tight, but she was otherwise silent.

Rae sat down beside her and pulled the little girl into her lap.  "I'm not going to this time Ann, but if you argue with me again, I will.  No more warnings, little miss."

Sniffling, she rubbed her nose and nodded.

"Now be a good girl and take a nap for me, alright?"

She nodded again and crawled onto her bed.

Rae kissed her forehead and tucked her in, before going back to check on Spot.  When she entered the room, he sat up suddenly; his body overcome with deep, hacking coughs. Rushing over to him, she gave him firm pats on the back. "Oh Spot..." She chewed her lip worriedly. To tell him about Ann, or not to tell, that was the question. 'If I tell him, he'll want to help out... If I don't... well... he didn't tell me about that snake... but...' She reached for the cup of water and handed it to him, rubbing his back as he drank.  "Spot," she said hesitantly.

He held up his hand for her to wait as he drank the water to the very last drop. Gasping deeply, he looked at her, wobbled a bit, and then said, "Yes?"

"I think Ann is sick too," she said, helping him lean back against the blanket pillows that she had created.

"Why don't you bring her in here? We can be miserable together."

"Are you sure? She threw a pretty bad tantrum when I tried to get her to sleep."

He nodded weakly. "Go get her."

"Alright." She kissed his warm forehead and then went to gather Ann. "Come on, sweetheart," she murmured as the girl whimpered. "Spot says you can stay with him for a while."

Rae was surprised when Ann did nothing but rest her warm head on Rae's shoulder.  Ann didn't move or make a sound, beyond a slight whimper when Rae set her down next to Spot, who was sleeping again. Rae began to bathe the little girl's face and hummed a lullaby, until the girl finally fell into a fevered sleep.

She stayed there for a few more minutes, worriedly watching the both of them. Two sick at once. What more did she need?

Her head felt heavy.  Sleep.  Sleep would be wonderful right now.  She curled up next to Ann and promptly fell asleep.

~*~

The next morning, Rae awoke to silence. And she absolutely hated it. It seemed to intensify her increasing headache. With a deep frown, she staggered stiffly to her feet and went to wake up the others.

"Time to get up, Julie," she said, sticking her head in the girls' room, wincing with each word.

Julie stirred and opened her eyes. "Morning," she replied sleepily, but with a sunny smile.

Rae nodded and walked to the boys' room.  "Get up, boys." There were a few groans but the two boys were up and in the 'kitchen' within a few minutes.

Chris came up behind her while she was trying to prepare breakfast. "You look rough, Rae, why don't you go rest for a little bit longer," he suggested.

"I'm fine," she insisted firmly. "I have two sick patients to take care of. I'll be okay."

"They're both sleeping.  Go sleep while they are."

"Thank you, but I said I'm fine."

"Go to sleep, Miss Rae," Andy insisted.

She looked at him, startled.

Julie nodded. "I can make them breakfast. It will be fine."

Before she could protest, Andy took her hand and began to pull her toward the room, while Chris pushed her from behind. She laughed tiredly, and sank into bed. "You'll hear one from me when I get back up," she muttered, snuggling back beneath the blanket.

Chris looked at Andy, "Why don't you go make all the beds while I help Julie with breakfast?"

Andy looked like he was going to protest, but decided against it, going off and doing what he was told.

Chris limped over to Julie, "Miss Rae is sick too. We need to keep her in bed.  And keep Andy as far away from them as possible."

"I don't know how we're going to do that... keep her in bed, that is... Sometimes she can be more stubborn than Mr. Spot."

"We are gonna have to think of something.  If you can handle things here, then I'll take Andy for a walk after breakfast. To get rid of some of his energy and to let them have some rest."

She nodded. "Just don't go super far." She sighed. "Goodness knows what they'll do once they're better if they find out you did."

"We'll stick to the beach, little sister," he said, hugging her.

With a smile, she hugged her brother back. "I'll probably have something ready for lunch when you get back."

"You are wonderful," he said, "I'll set the table."

She grinned. "It's about time you realized that."

He ruffled her hair and moved to set the table.  After breakfast, and a quick check on the three sick people, Chris and Andy headed out for a walk along the beach, leaving Julie to man the fort.

And man the fort she did. She cleaned the dishes and straightened up what little mess there was to be had, tended to Ann when she woke up, crying and thirsty... By the time she had finished fixing the light lunch, she plopped onto the floor against the entryway and breathed a sigh of relief. A moment of peace! Then she heard Spot coughing. She climbed back to her feet and made her way back into the room where the three sick people lay.  Dipping up a cup of water, she handed it to Spot.

"Thanks," he croaked, guzzling it down. "You're doing a wonderful job, Julie."

"Your welcome, Mr. Spot," she said, "Get some more sleep."

He gave her a smile before dropping his head onto his pillow and falling asleep again.

Julie moved around to the other side of the bed to check on Rae.  Still sleeping, but with a slight fever.  Frowning Julie went back into the main room to wait on Chris and Andy.

She tapped her fingers on the floor nervously, as she sat. She didn't know anything about doctoring folks... she couldn't even guess what was wrong... And what if something bad... No... She shook her head. 'Not gonna think like that. Think good thoughts. Good thoughts.'

Chris and Andy soon returned and ate their lunch, Andy's head nearly falling into his plate several times.  Chris stood and threw Andy over his shoulder. "Come on, little man, I think you need a nap."

Andy yelped. "But I don't..." He yawned "wanna..." He yawned again "take a nap."

"I'm gonna take a nap, so you can take a nap, little man!"

He murmured more protests, but he didn't struggle much because he was already falling asleep, worn out from his fun and games with Chris.

Chris lay down to take a nap, but found that he couldn't sleep.  He got up and walked back into the main room with his sister.

"Thought you were napping?"

"Worried about you, sis," Chris said sitting beside her.

She looked at him curiously. "How come?"

"Are you gonna be able to take care of Spot, Rae and Ann, while I keep Andy occupied?"

She nodded. "I'll try my best anyway..."

"You let me know if you don't think you can handle it."

She nodded. "I will. You worry too much."

Just then Ann woke up and began crying. Chris pulled himself to his feet, "I'll get her."

Walking into the room, he sat on the edge of the bed and put his arms around Ann. "What's the matter, Miss Ann?"

"My head hurts and my throat burns," she whined, resting her head weakly on his shoulder.

"Would you like something to drink?"

She nodded weakly.  He dipped up a cup of water and helped the weak little girl drink it. Then he gently pushed her back and tucked her in. "Try to go to sleep again, all right?"

"Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm tired of laying in this bed, will you hold me?"

"I uh... well I... Sure." Why deny a sick little girl her wish?

Ann crawled out of the bed and into his arms and was instantly asleep again.

He frowned a bit. Was he supposed to stay there and hold her until she awoke again? She shivered and snuggled deeper into his arms.  He pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around her, before leaning up against the wall and closing his eyes.

Julie heard not a peep. Poking her head into the room, she smiled, seeing her brother holding Ann. He had really softened up in this journey. She couldn't recall a time when he'd been as pleasant to her as he had been that day.

That night Julie sat up with the sick people.  Rae would wake up, drink some water and go right back to sleep.  Spot's cough was slow getting worse. And Ann woke up at random intervals, whimpering and crying and all sorts of other actions of discomfort that Julie and occasionally Chris would take turns attending to. But mostly, he was out keeping Andy occupied so HE didn't get sick as well.

Julie sighed tiredly, leaning against the wall. How much longer would this go on?  Would someone else soon get sick?  Would Spot, or Rae, or even little Ann.....No she wasn't going to think like that.  That wasn't going to happen!  She sighed.  Who was she kidding? They had no clue where they were and there were no doctors or medicine around. And one girl and two boys to take care of them... well, that wasn't much to go with.

Standing, she pushed her fingers through her long, tangled hair, and peeked in the 'sickroom'. For once, all three patients seemed to be sleeping somewhat peacefully. Rae was tossing and turning a bit, and occasionally Spot coughed, and Ann flopped around worse than Rae, but... at least they were sleeping.

Three days passed.  The sick ones getting no better, but no worse.  Julie cared for them by day, while Chris kept Andy busy on the beach, and Chris sat up with them at night, insisting that Julie get some sleep.

"But you need sleep too," she insisted as he pushed her to her room. "You've been out all day playing with Andy and stuff."

"I'll take a nap when he does."

She looked at him uncertainly. "You sure?"

"Positive," he said, kissing her forehead, "You just get some rest so that you don't get sick too."

After thinking long and hard, she nodded. "All right. But wake me if something changes with them."

"I will, just go sleep!"

She made a face and went into her room.

When he went back into the sick room Ann woke with a whimper.  He picked her up and helped her drink some water and then paced the floor while rubbing her small back.

Her arms clenched around his neck as he paced. "I'm gonna fall!" she shrilled suddenly, tightening her arms around him, even though she was nowhere near falling.

"Shh...It's alright Ann," he whispered, tightening his hold on her.  "I'm not gonna let you fall."

She nodded slowly but didn't loosen her hold.

He hummed a lullaby that he remembered his mother singing to him as he continued pacing and rubbing her back.  She soon fell asleep and he placed her back on the bed, just as Rae woke up.

"Thirsty?" he inquired.

"A little," she said, dropping her head into her hands.

"I'll get you something to drink."

"Thanks," she whispered.

He shrugged. "Ain't a problem." He left the room for a moment, and when he returned, handed her a cup of water. She quickly drained it.

"How's your head?" he whispered.

"Not as bad as it has been, but it still hurts pretty bad."

"Would you like something to eat? We have a little fish leftover from dinner."

"Sure, but I want to get out of this bed to eat it."

"You sure?" he asked uncertainly.

She nodded, and weakly stood.

"Need help?" he asked, heading to her side.

"That would be nice."

He took her arm and helped her into the little 'kitchenette' and then served her a small plate of fish.

"Thanks for all your help, Chris.  I don't see how we would have made it without you and Julie."

"It's mostly Julie. I just keep watch when she's asleep... and I take Andy out.. It's no problem. SOMEBODY has to take care of things while you guys are sick."

"If we ever get off this island, Spot and I want the two of you to come live with us until you find your father."

He stared at her in disbelief. "With you... and ... Spot?" Quickly, he shook his head, as if to clear it. "How come?"

"Julie told me that you two didn't know for sure that your father was in London.  We figured it would be better for you to come stay with us and write to him and see if you can get in touch with him."

He frowned. "Yeah... I guess that's okay."

"You don't have to if you don't want to. It's just that Spot and I...we both know what it's like to be without a family, and be forced to live on the streets.  We...I would hate to see that happen to you and Julie."

He nodded. "Well... it's just we've never had people just up and ask us something like that... I'll have to talk with Julie."

"I understand," she said with a slight smile.  "How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Three or four days," he answered

Rae blanched. "How have you poor children survived-"

"Julie has us covered. I've learned she's useful in such a pinch." He smiled.

"Chris, I'm so sorry about all of this."

He shrugged. "It's okay. Ain't like any of you could've predicted it. Just eat and get better soon."

She laughed slightly, "Who put you in charge, mister?"

He grinned. "Julie, 'til she wakes up again."

"And just who put Nurse Julie in charge?"

"Um... I think she put herself in charge."

Rae smiled, "Was she like that before?"

"Uh..." He paused thoughtfully. "I don't know, honestly.

"But she's your sister..."

"I never really paid attention to her." Chris said, hanging his head.

She gave him a reprimanding look. "That's awful."

"I know," he whispered, "I used to think she was annoying and not good for anything."

"No wonder the two of you fought like cats and dogs. Is that how you think about all women?"

"I didn't think about my mother that way!  But all the other women in my life have been like that, including my aunt."

"Well, you'd better not think of me like that!" She gave him a firm, but tired look.

"Of course not," he protested.

"You'd better not... I want to go back to bed..."

"Need any help?"

After a long pause, she finally nodded. "Probably." She held her arm out to him. He stood and helped her back into the sick room.

"Sleep well."

"Good night Chris," she said, crawling back under the blankets. "Oh, and Chris?"

"Uh... what?"

"Not all women are that way.  Give your sister a chance, she really does love you."

He sighed but nodded. "Night."

Just as she drifted off to sleep, Spot woke up coughing.  Chris was at his side in an instant. He had never heard it this bad before.

"You okay, Mr. Spot?" He handed him a second glass of water that he had brought with him.

Spot weakly shook his head and took the glass of water, quickly draining it.

He frowned, wondering if he should wake Julie or not. She said she wanted to be woken if something changed... but he didn't know what change she wanted to hear about.

"I'm not sure I can take much more of this," Spot said, dropping back against his pillow.

"I'm not sure any of us can."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

Chris and Andy were walking along the path to the beach when Chris suddenly placed his hand over Andy's mouth and pulled him into the woods. "Be still and quiet," he hissed.  Andy could hear the faint whisper of voices.  Chris suddenly jumped to his feet and led Andy back toward the house.   He stopped along the side of the big hill and pulled some brush away revealing a small opening. He shoved Andy inside. "Stay here, don't move, and don't say a word. I'm going to get the others." he said, before covering the opening again.   He ran as fast as he could to the tree house and climbed the ladder.  Rae and Julie looked up as he ran into the main room.  "We have to get out of here now!" he said.

"What's wrong, Chris?" Rae asked.

"There are people on the island. I have this really bad feeling about them. We have to hide."

Rae looked at him and considered his words for a moment.  "Alright. Grab Ann.  Julie, grab what you can." she said, rushing into the room where Spot and Ann were sleeping.  Chris followed her and wrapped Ann in several blankets before heading carefully down the ladder.

Julie followed with what few things she could manage to throw into a sack.  Rae helped Spot to his feet and helped him over to the ladder.  Once they were down on the ground Chris led the way to the small cave, Julie following close behind him, Rae and Spot bringing up the rear.  Rae had draped his arm around her shoulders and had her arm around his waist to support him.

"Where are these people, Chris?" Rae finally asked. "What did they look like? And where are we going?"

"They were on the beach when Andy and I left.  They looked like pirates, but I can't be for sure, I didn't understand a word they were saying."

"Pirates?" Spot asked skeptically, as they headed for a cave.

"You know, shaved heads, eye patches, peg legs..."

"Kid Blink," Rae murmured with a snigger.

"Rae!" Spot hissed, but was soon grinning.

Chris just gave them a puzzled look and then shrugged.

"You said you had Andy with you. Where is he?"

"In that cave." He pointed towards the cave that was just a short distance away.

"You left him there alone?" Rae asked.

"Well... I... uh... yeah..."

"Next time don't leave him!" she snapped.

He frowned and hung his head.  Moving the brush aside, he waited for the others to enter the small cave before he followed with a sleeping Ann.

Andy ran over to them and threw his arms around Rae and Spot. "I was so scared," he whimpered.

Spot collapsed weakly to the ground and pulled the little boy into his arms, as Rae sat beside them. "It's alright, we're here now, Andy."

"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes wide.

Rae and Spot exchanged a glance, "Nothing sweetheart," Rae was quick to say.

"Then why are we hiding?"

"We're just playing a little game, Andy," Chris said, handing Ann to Rae.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, we're pretending like a bunch of pirates have come to take over our island."

"Don't we have to beat them up then?" he asked, crawling into Chris' lap.

"Not these pirates. These pirates like to play hide-and-seek. So we have to hide and be real quiet so that they don't find us." Chris answered, looking over Andy's head for approval from Spot and Rae.

They both nodded, approving the plan.

"Will they leave?"

"We hope so."

"If they do, will they take us back home?"

"No, Andy," Rae answered, "these pirates aren't going to our house."

"Well... they SHOULD take us home! If we're letting them play with us, they should be nice and take us home!" He pouted.

"Come here Andy," Spot snapped.

Flinching, Andy hesitantly approached him. "Yessir...?"

"These pirates aren't nice pirates.  I need you to sit down and be real still and quiet until they leave, alright?" He frowned and plopped down next to Spot. "Straighten up, little man."

He did as told. Ann whimpered. "I'm cold..."

Rae wrapped another blanket around the girl and held her tighter.  "I'm sorry baby."

Nodding, she sniffled. Beyond them, Julie paced. "How long do you think we have to wait?"

"Hopefully they will be gone in a couple of hours." Spot said.

"How will we tell?"

"I think we should run them off the island!" Chris proclaimed, smacking his fist onto his open palm.

He startled Ann who began whimpering even more.  "Chris!" Rae hissed, sending him a look, while trying to comfort Ann.

"Well... we should!"

"Chris, please," Rae pleaded.

He frowned. "Oh, all right..."

"Thank you," Rae said with a sigh.         

"Yeah, yeah..."

Julie crouched near the cave wall and pulled some dried fish out of the sack she had packed, poured some water in the dish and set it aside to soak it up. "We can eat in a few minutes, if anyone's hungry."

"Good thinking, Julie," Rae said, shifting Ann's sleeping form.  Ann whimpered and shrieked and tightened her hold on Rae.

"Shh, shh," she whispered. "It's okay." Once Ann finally settled down, Rae sighed and leaned her head against the cave wall.  This was going to be a long wait.

* * *

Dawn came with chirping birds and the fresh scent of the ocean blowing into the cave. With stiff necks, backs, and other appendages, everyone awoke, or tried to. Rae rubbed her eyes sleepily. "I wonder if the pirates are gone..."

Spot stifled a yawn and snagged Chris' arm. "We'll take a look."

Chris muttered a word under his breath and Spot sent him a glare.

"We'll be right back."

"Be careful," Rae warned. "Don't let them see you if they are still here."

"Don't worry, dear, we'll be careful." Spot said, dragging the boy from the cave.

"You'd better!" she called out after them. Turning to Julie then, she asked, "Want to help me get breakfast ready?"

Julie sifted through the bag of things that she had brought.  "We finished off the food last night."

Rae wrinkled her nose. "Well... the island better be clear... because I'm starving... and I imagine you two are too," she nodded at Ann and Andy.

Andy nodded, but Ann whimpered.  "I don't feel like eating, Miss Rae."

"Do you feel worse?"

Ann nodded with a whimper. Rae frowned deeply, resting her hand on the little girl's forehead. "Oh honey, you're burning up... Here, bundle up in these blankets." She handed her the blankets they had used through the night.

"Will you hold me?" Ann asked.

With a nod, she pulled Ann onto her lap. "Rest now, okay?"

Ann nodded, "I love you, Momma," she whispered.

Rae's eyebrows hiked up in surprise, and she looked down at her. "I love you too, Ann."

Ann snuggled up closer to Rae and soon fell asleep. Rae sighed.  What had happened to Ann's mother? Had the little girl already forgotten her?

Andy looked at her inquisitively. "What's wrong, Miss Rae?"

"Come here," she said, motioning him closer.

He looked at her uncertainly, wondering if he was in trouble or not, but walked over.

She put her free arm around him. "Andy, do you know what happened to your parents?" she asked.

Andy scratched his head. "I... Well... Momma got sick... and went away... Daddy... daddy got hurt in a factory accident and he.... he went away too..." He looked at her sadly. "Why didn't they come back, Miss Rae?"

Rae pulled him closer. "I don't know sweetheart, but you and Ann are gonna stay with us now."

He nodded slowly. "Thank you Miss Rae."

"Your welcome, sweetheart," she said.  "Andy?"

"Yes, Miss Rae?"

"I love you kiddo," she said, kissing his dirty head.

He hugged her. "I love you too, Miss Rae. Will you marry me?"

She giggled, "What about Mr. Spot?"

"Well.... he can share! You're supposed to share, you know." He nodded wisely.

"You'll have to ask him if he wants to share, kiddo."

He grinned. "Okay!"

They waited for a few more minutes before Spot and Chris returned.  Andy ran over to Spot. "Mr. Spot?"

"Yes, Andy?"

"Can I marry Miss Rae too?" He gave him a wide-eyed, hopeful look. Chris snorted.

"What are you talking about Andy?"

"I wanna marry Miss Rae, but she said I'd have to see if you wanted to share."  Again, Chris snorted. Julie whacked the back of his head to shut him up.

Spot bent down so that he was nose to nose with the boy.  "I don't think I wanna share Miss Rae.  Cause I love her a lot."

"But... not sharing is mean!"

"I know, but this is Miss Rae, we're talking about."

"But.. but.. NO FAIR!"

"Sorry Andy, I got her first."

He pouted and then walked over to Julie. "Will YOU marry me?"

Chris knelt in front of him.  "You gotta ask her big brother if that's alright first Andy."

Andy wrinkled his nose. "I gotta ask everyone something all the time!"  They laughed.

Julie reached around her brother and ruffled Andy's hair. "Ask me again when we're older and maybe I'll think about it."

"Yippee!"

"Is it safe?" Rae asked, shifting Ann in her arms.

Chris and Spot nodded. "Or, so it looks," Spot added.

"We need to get Ann back to the house, she's pretty sick."

Chris crouched down and scooped the little girl up into his arms. "All right then. Let's move out."

The others quickly gathered the few belongings that they had managed to grab and followed him from the cave.

"Can we eat now?" Andy asked as they crossed the beach.

"As soon as we get back to the house," Spot answered.

"Can't we fish and eat right on the beach?"

"Let's go take care of Ann first, and then we'll come back and fish."

"Oh all right."

"If you'll take Ann, little man and I can stay here and fish," Chris offered.

Spot and Rae looked at one another and shrugged. "Just be careful," Rae added, taking Ann from him. "We'll be back soon."

"You two just worry about Ann. I'll take care of Andy."

"I will too," Julie offered, linking arms with her brother. "It's about time you showed me how to fish anyway."

Spot ruffled Julie's hair and led Rae down the path toward the tree house.

Once in the house Rae placed Ann on the bed and stood back to watch her sleep.  She sighed heavily.  "I'm getting worried about her, Spot," she murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. "We got better. Why isn't she?"

He slipped his arm around her waist. "I don't know sweetheart." he said, kissing her temple.

"She will get better... right?"

"I hope so, darling."

She frowned deeply. "You go with the kids. I want to stay here and watch Ann."

He pulled her closer to him. "I'm not leaving. I'm going to stay right here with the two of you."

"They're expecting at least one of us back..." she pointed out.

"They'll be alright.  I don't want to leave Ann anymore than you do."

She smiled softly and sat down on the floor by Ann. "You know, she called me Momma..."

He knelt beside her and wrapped his arms around her and held her close.  "When?"

"While you were out. It's just hallucinations or something but... it was strange... I kind of liked it."

"I'm sure you did.  I mean, in all ways expect for blood, you are here mother."

"I suppose... I guess that makes you her father in all ways except for blood."  She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder again. "Spot, I asked Andy about their parents..."

"And?"

"I think they both died."

He held her closer. "Did he say what happened?"

"Their mother got sick and their father got hurt in a factory accident."

Spot took several deep breaths and Rae could tell that he was thinking about his own accident.  He let go of her and moved to get up.  She looked at him with a frown and pulled him back down. "Don't start that again, Spot," she scolded firmly, yet sadly. He pulled away from her and left the room.  He walked out and leaned against the railing of the tree house. Getting up, she followed him and folded her arms over her chest, waiting for him to start talking.

"I'm sorry Rae, but...you said that and the whole thing came back.  I remember the heat of that room.  The sting of the burning metal tearing into my skin. The pain that I felt when I woke up...."

She slipped her arms around him and looked up at him. "I know... But it's over... It's over now.... And you have nothing more to worry about... You had done a good thing." He buried his face in her hair and his shoulders soon began to shake. "It's all right," she whispered soothingly, stroking his hair gently.

"Why Rae? Why me? Why those children? Why?"

She shook her head. "I don't know why. Life is funny that way."

"I'll never get over this Rae. Every time I looked in the mirror. Every time I look down and see the scars on my arms and chest.  I can't..." She didn't know how to comfort him... It seemed as though words would not suffice. He pulled back and turned away, his hands going to his eyes to dry them. "I'm sorry, Rae.  You shouldn't have to deal with this."

She shook her head. "No...we are married now. And before that, best friends. Best friends, husband and wife, they all share problems. I want you to tell me. I want to help you Spot."

"Rae, there is something I should have told you before and I'll understand if you hate me."

She looked at him curiously, tilting her head. "What is it?"

"I can't give you the children you want."

She quirked her brow. "What do you mean?'

He sighed. "When I woke up the doctors told me that because of the accident that I couldn't father any children."

She stared at him. "You... can't?"

"No," he whispered, turning away from her.

Gently, she grabbed his hand and turned him back. "Why are you so upset?"

"I'll understand if you want to leave me when we get back to the States." he said, turning from her again.

She pulled him back again. "Now why would you think a silly thing like that?"

"Because you want a lot of children and I CAN'T GIVE THEM TO YOU!  I don't know why you've put up with a freak like me as long as you have."

"STOP CALLING YOURSELF THAT!" she yelled, stomping her foot. "I put up with you because I love you! I don't care that you can't give me children. I don't love you for that, I love you for YOU, why don't you understand that?!" Before he could answer, Ann's cries filled the air. "Look what you did," she hissed, though she had been the only one yelling. Sitting next to Ann, she stroked the girl's fevered face. "What's the matter sweetheart?"

"I'm gonna be sick, Miss Rae," the girl whispered, quickly, her hand going to her mouth. Spot, nearest to the door, grabbed the empty water pail they had ended up keeping near the door and thrust into Ann's free hand just in time. When Ann finished throwing up, she dropped her head weakly into Rae's lap, "You two scared me," she whispered.

"Why was that sweetheart?"

"You two were yelling and it scared me."

Spot sat beside her, moving the pail. "We're sorry, Ann... Aren't we, Rae?"

"Of course we are." Rae said, brushing a stray lock of hair from the girl's face.

"Do you two hate each other?"

"No, of course not!" they exclaimed simultaneously.

"Why would you think that?" Rae asked.

"Because you two were yelling at each other."

"We always do that, remember?" Spot kidded, pushing her hair out of her face. "Don't let it bother you. Everyone yells sometimes."

Ann nodded.  "Will you hold me Mr. Spot?"

"All right. But you get back to sleep, you hear? You need all the rest you can get, little lady." Spot gathered her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. 

"I love you, Daddy," she whispered as she fell asleep.

Rae looked at Spot and placed a hand on his shoulder.  "If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have Ann and Andy, now would we?" He shrugged silently, reveling in the fact that this little girl had called him 'daddy'. He rather liked the sound of it. "Spot look at me." He glanced at Rae. She placed a hand gently on his cheek.  "Having children of our own doesn't matter to me.  There are two little angels that already consider us their parents.  We don't need to have children of our own to be parents."

"But.. didn't you want children of your own?"

"I don't need children of my own to be happy. I'm happy with YOU! And the twins. And Chris and Julie if they decide to stay with us."

"Well.... are you sure you're happy though?"

She pulled his head towards her and kissed him. After a moment she pulled away. "Wanna ask that question again?" she whispered.

"Mm, no, I think that will suffice."

"No more talk of such nonsense, right?"

"...Right."

"I love you Spot."

"I know you do," he replied with a smile.

"She's beautiful, Spot." she said, brushing the hair from the girl's face.

Spot smiled. "I'm afraid that when she's older, we'll have to lock her in her room to keep the young men away."

"I think we'll be so busy keeping Andy away from the girls that we may forget to let her out."

He laughed. "That boy is a card."

"He's a lot like his Daddy," Rae said, turning her head to smile at him.

Spot smiled, running a hand through his hair. "Well, what can I say? Some of us men just have the charm."

Rae grinned at him. "You know, I'm getting mighty jealous of Miss Ann."

"Is that so?" He grinned

She nodded.  "I think she's in my place.  I seem to remember our wedding vows saying 'to have and to HOLD'," she said with a mischievous grin.

Spot chuckled. "Well, I've got two arms." He held out the other arm for her.

She moved over next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, snuggling up close to him.  "This is a little better."

He grinned broadly. "Well, if Ann hadn't asked me to hold her first..."

Rae sighed and looked down at the tiny child sleeping in his arms.  "I just wish I knew what to do to make her feel better."

"You and me both."

She shuddered. "What if she..."

"She won't."

"She might, Spot."

"We have to keep believing she won't."

"I can try, but it's hard, especially when I look at her."

He nodded and kissed her head. "I know it is."

"MR. SPOT! MISS RAE! YOU'VE GOT TO COME TO THE BEACH QUICK!" They heard Julie yell from below.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

Rae jumped up and ran to the open-walled main room. "What is it Julie?" she yelled down.  "There's a boat! And it's flying an American flag!" Julie yelled before running back to the beach.

"Oh my...! Spot! Did you hear her?!"

"Yeah, I heard!" He picked Ann up and scrambled to the tree house's balcony. "Let's get down to the beach, quick.. Maybe' they'll see us!"

By the time they reached the beach a small life boat had been thrown over and was almost to the beach.

"We're saved!" Andy yelled, bouncing around them. "We're saved!"

Ann whimpered and moaned in Spot's arms.   "Andy, please settle down, Ann's still sick and needs to sleep," Rae told the boy, even though she herself felt like yelling with him.

"Okay," he whispered and crept over to Spot and Ann. "Guess what Annie! We're going home!"

Ann looked at him, but Rae could tell just by looking in the little girl's eyes that she had no clue what was happening.  Rae exchanged a worried look with Spot.

He squeezed her arm reassuringly. "She'll be fine. The ship is here and we can go home and get her some help. There may even be a doctor on board."

She sighed and nodded.  They walked over to join Andy, Chris and Julie as the lifeboat reached the shore. Out jumped a tall, tightly bundled up middle-aged man. "How long have you kids been 'ere?" he inquired, glancing at them over his cigarette.

"Nearly a month," Spot answered.

He stroked the beard on his chin. "You six survivors of the Minnow wreck?"

They nodded.

"Well!" He gave a hearty laugh. "You kids ready to go home?"

"YES!"

"Well, gather up your belongings and let's get you home." the man said.

"Already have them, sir," Spot replied.

"Then get in the boat and we'll be on our way."

At once, they clambered into the boat.

"What you have there, son?" The man asked Spot.

"This is Ann... She's been real sick for the past couple of weeks... See, we all got sick and... well, it's obvious she ain't over it yet... Is there a doctor on the ship?"

"No there ain't. But my ship is faster than the Minnow. I can have you in New York City by tomorrow noon."

"Well, that'll have to do."

Once on the boat the man showed them to a room.  It was smaller than the room that they had occupied on the Minnow. But of course, no one cared. It had an actual mattress, a pair of chairs to sit in, and the man promised to bring them a tray of food- real food!

Spot set Ann down on the bed.  She opened her eyes and looked up at him.  "Where are we Daddy?" she whispered.

"We're on a boat, going home, sweetheart," he replied quietly.

"A boat?" she asked, an utterly confused expression on her face. "Home?"

Rae bit back a sob and turned away from the bed.  What was wrong with her?

He nodded and kissed her forehead. "Yes... You just close your eyes and go back to sleep."

When the little girl did so, he let go of her and went to comfort Rae.

"What's wrong with her Spot?  Why is she like this? Has this sickness messed up her mind?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know... I honestly don't know.... Only a doctor can tell us... I hope."

"What are we going to do? For all we know, our house is gone, the money could be gone too."

He shrugged. "Well, this ship is headed for New York... We can stay at the lodging house if we can't get back to the house."

She looked up at him, her face wet with tears. "What would I do without you?"

He kissed her forehead and dried the tears off of her face. "Mm, I think you'd go and find me," he teased lightly in hopes to make her laugh a little.

She smiled slightly, "I love you, my darling."

"I love you more-"

"Aww, no more of the mushie love stuff!" Chris groaned. "At least not while we're here!":

Spot looked at him.  "Then leave, because I'm about to kiss my wife."

Chris grabbed Andy's hand and Julie's arm and pulled them from the room.

She smiled at him. "That worked well."

"Well, I told them the truth." He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. He pulled back after a moment.

"We're going to have to kick them out more often," she said with a smile.

"Mm, I think so."

"As long as they're gone, how about kissing me again?"

With a grin, he kissed her again.

The next day they all stood on the main deck, watching as the boat pulled into the New York Harbor.  Spot held Ann and Rae stood beside him.   Andy stood nearby between Chris and Julie, chattering excitedly. "And you should see it! It's big and... Big! And it has a barn and a attic and a ..." he chattered away.

"We're back home," Rae breathed.

"I don't think I've ever been more excited to see a crowd of people," Spot whispered.

"I know I haven't."

"Should we take the others to the lodging house before going to find a doctor?" Rae asked.

He nodded. "Yes... the less underfoot the better."

"I hope Trent is in his office.  I'd feel better taking Ann to see him than any other doctor." Rae said.

Spot nodded. "Yes, he'd better be in... at least he charges fair.... or as fair as a doctor can charge."

The man from the day before walked over to them. He was dressed in a Captain's uniform.  He took his hat off and plopped it down on Andy's head.  "Well, kids, I got you safely home."

"Thank you so much, sir," Spot said. "I wish we had something to pay you-"

"I do!" All eyes turned on Andy as he dug around in his worn, sandy pockets. He produced two pretty shells and a sand dollar. "Here!"

The Captain laughed. "Thanks, my boy." Andy beamed. He capped his hat onto Andy's head. "Keep the hat, little man." The Captain said, walking away.

The boy grinned and looked up at Spot. "Look! The Cap'n gave me his hat!"

Spot and Rae smiled at him, "That's wonderful, sweetheart." Rae said. And off they headed into New York City in search of Brooklyn.

"Spot? Rae?" they heard someone behind them yell. "We thought you were dead!"

Turning, they saw Hades, Jecca, Blank, and Mush running over to them. Hades threw her arms around them. "You're alive!" she crowed. Then she slapped both of them on the arm. "How DARE you scare us like that!"

"We didn't mean to Hades." Spot said.

"We've had a number of scares ourselves, Hades," Rae added.

"I'm sure you did." Seizing Rae's arm and pushing on Spot's shoulder, she shoved them steadily in the direction of the lodging house. "And you can tell us all about it when you get home!"

"We need to take Ann to see Trent, before we do any explaining," Spot said.

She peered over Spot's shoulder at Ann. "All right, I'll take the boy home. You go."

"Um Hades... there's two more..."

"What?!" Hades glanced back and saw Chris and Julie. "What the... I didn't think the two of you were gone THAT long! Oh well, you kids follow me."

Julie sent them an uncertain glance.

"It's alright Julie.  Hades won't bite. Mush might though." Rae teased. Mush chuckled and gnashed his teeth.

Jecca hit him and linked arms with Julie.  "Don't let him get to you. He's harmless.  He couldn't hurt a fly if he tried."

"I could so, little girl," he replied.

"Prove it," Jecca taunted with a grin.

"I will the next time I see a fly."

"Chicken!"

"Hey, I can't prove anything if it's not here to prove. You said I couldn't hurt a fly if I tried... I don't see any flies."

Hades shook her head with a grin and rolled her eyes as they walked off.

* * *

Rae paced the waiting room of Trent's office, nervously wringing her hands while waiting on Trent to come out and tell them what was wrong with Ann. Spot gently took her hands and pulled her over to the chairs. "Sit down, Rae... Wearing a hole in the floor isn't going to make him go faster."

"But I can't sit still, Spot."

He pushed her into a chair and sat on her lap. "There. Now you will."

She shoved him to the floor. "I'll sit still if you promise to hold me."

"I'll promise to hold you if you promise not to shove me again, that hurt..." Spot wrinkled his nose, rubbing his hip.

"I'm sorry," she said, leaning down to kiss him.

With a nod, he accepted the apology, stood, pulled her up, sat in her place, and pulled her onto his lap. "There. Good?"

"Yep," she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

He kissed her forehead. "Good."

"Do you think Ann is really calling us Momma and Daddy, or is it just the fever talking?" Rae asked.

"I don't know... Probably just the fever... though I really hope not."

"Me too," she whispered.

Just then the door opened and Trent walked out, closing the door behind himself.

Rae jumped up and ran over to him, "What's wrong with Ann?" she demanded.

"Why don't you have a seat, Rae," Trent suggested.

She gave him a worried look. "Is it bad? I know it's bad..."

"She will get better, with a lot of rest and care, but..."

"But? There's a but? There's always a but!"

"Rae, calm down," Spot said.

"The fever has taken part of her memory.  She thinks that she still lives with her parents and twin brother Andy and that she is four years old."

"Will... will she ever recover that part?"

"She might. She might not. Only time will tell."

"What does she have? Do you know?"

"Since I didn't know her before I can't tell.  I do know that she doesn't remember a Miss Rae, Mr. Spot or even being on the island."

Rae and Spot glanced at one another. "It'll be all right," Spot told her.

"How can you say that?" Rae asked, her eyes full of tears.

"Because you're doing that..." He wiped the tears off of her face. "Someone has to say it."

She buried her head in his shoulder.  "What are we going to do, Spot?"

"We're going to take her home and help her get better... It's all we can do."

She nodded.  Spot looked at Trent, "When can we take her home?"

Trent tucked his hands into his pockets. "Tomorrow should be okay, if she doesn't get any worse."

Rae turned to him, "Can we see her?"

Trent nodded. "Not for long... she's still very tired... But you can stay for... maybe ten minutes."

"Thank you, Trent," Rae said, heading for the door to the back room.

Spot nodded his thanks and followed. "Hey sweetheart," he said, approaching one side of the bed and taking Ann's small hand in his.

"Hey, Daddy," she said with a small smile.  "When can I go home?"

"Tomorrow, if you at least stay just like you are right now."

She nodded weakly. "I'll try."

"Atta girl."

Rae brushed the hair from her face. "We can only stay for a few minutes, but Dr. Trent will take good care of you, baby girl."

"I don't want you to gooo," she whimpered.

"I know baby girl, but Dr. Trent won't let me stay.  He says that you need lots of sleep so that you can get better so we can take you home tomorrow."

She sniffled and whimpered again. "But why can't you and Daddy ask him?"

Rae looked at Spot, silently pleading with him to go beg Trent to allow them to stay.

He looked at both of them and sighed. "I'll be right back."

Trent looked up when Spot entered the front room again. "Is something wrong Spot?" he asked.

"She... she wants us to stay... And Rae doesn't want to leave her side. And frankly, I don't really either."

Trent sighed and thought about it for a minute. "Alright, you can stay."

Spot smiled. "Thank you." And he slipped into Ann's room again to tell Rae the news. He walked over to the bed and kissed Ann on the forehead. "He said we can stay. I'm going to go check on Andy and then I'll be back, alright sweetheart?"

She nodded. Rae squeezed his hand. "Don't be too long."

"I won't," he whispered, giving her a quick kiss.

She returned the kiss and watched him go before turning back to Ann. "Now you get some sleep, okay honey?"

Ann nodded, "You won't leave me?"

"Nope. We're staying right here."

* * *

Andy was playing on the floor with Ginia, Jackson, and Ana Wayne while Chris and Julie sat on the couch, looking very nervous and unsure of the people who were in the room with them.

Spot walked into this scene and smiled, in spite of himself. "Hello everyone."

Julie jumped up and ran over to him, "How is she?"

"She'll be okay... We hope. Dr. Trent said she'd get over the sick part.... but she's just lost part of her memory, and he doesn't know if she'll recover it." 

"How'd she lose it?" Andy asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not really sure. She was just sick so long that she forgot some things."

Andy nodded. "When can we go home to our big house?"

"We'll probably have to wait until she's a little more better than she is right now... It may not be a good idea to move her just yet." 

"Can I see her?" he asked, sending Spot a pleading look.

"Mm..." Spot shook his head. "I don't really know... I don't think so. Not tonight at least..." Andy pouted. "Sorry kiddo." He ruffled the boy's hair. Spot turned to Chris and Julie. "Rae and I are going to stay with Ann tonight.  Hades will take good care of you here."

They nodded somewhat sullenly. "You'll be back tomorrow though, right?" Julie asked.

"As soon as Dr. Trent says that we can take Ann home."

"Okay... Well... you'd probably better go before Miss Rae gets worried..."

He gave Andy a hug, before heading back out the door.

"Wait!" Andy ran out the door and handed Spot a seashell. "Give this to Ann... I was gonna keep it for me but I guess Ann can have it."

Spot smiled and ruffled the boy's hair.  "I'm sure this will make her feel better."

"Tell her to get good fast because these kids don't know how to play the right games!"

Spot laughed. "I'll tell her. Now go back inside and behave for Chris and Julie."

"Yes sir!" he exclaimed and ran back in.

Spot walked back into the room where Ann was resting.  Rae had fallen asleep in the chair beside the little girl's bed.  Spot walked over to the bed and brushed a kiss on Ann's fevered forehead.

"Daddy?" she murmured sleepily.

"Daddy's here, sweetheart."

She gripped his hand tightly. "Good."

"Andy gave me a present for you."

"A present for me?" She rubbed her hands over her eyes sleepily. "What kinda present?"

Spot pulled the seashell from his pocket and placed it in her tiny hand.

Squinting at it for a long time, she finally smiled. "Pretty..."

"He sure misses you.  So do Chris and Julie," he said, brushing her hair from her face.

"Who?" she murmured sleepily.

"Chris and Julie are living with us for a while, sweetheart."

"Are they my age?"

"Julie is ten and Chris is 13."

"Did we 'dopt 'em?"

"We sure did, sweetheart.  No more questions for tonight.  You need to sleep so that we can go home tomorrow."

Nodding, she rolled onto her side, clutching the shell in her fist.

* * *

"Well, Miss Ann," Dr. Trent said, "I'm going to let your Momma and Daddy take you home.  But you still have to get lots of sleep."

Yawning, she nodded. "Thank you Mr. Trent." She hugged him limply and then curled up in Spot's arms again.

"No running around for a couple of weeks, Miss Ann.  You can only play quiet games.  We don't want you getting sick again and scaring your Momma and Daddy."

She nodded. "Yes sir."

"Alright, Rae, Spot, get that poor child home and to bed." Trent said, opening the door for them.

"Thank you Trent," Rae said, giving him a tight hug. "We'll send you money as soon as we get some."

"There is no hurry.  Just take care of your family."

Spot looked at him gratefully. "Thank you so much, Trent."

* * *

When Rae and Spot walked into the lodging house, Ann was sleeping peacefully in Spot's arms.  Andy squealed with delight when they walked in and ran over to them, followed closely by Chris and Julie.

"Shhh," he hushed gently. "She's still sick."

"Are we going home now?" Andy whispered.

Rae nodded. "Just as soon as we gather up our stuff and say goodbye to our friends."

He smiled, pleased.

"So you're leaving us again," Hades said, walking up behind Andy.

Spot glanced at Hades. "Yes I guess we are..."

Hades smiled slightly. "Just don't stay away too long. Come back and visit often."

He smiled, giving Ann to Rae for a moment to hug Hades. "We will."

Rae gave Ann back to Spot and hugged Hades, "If anyone runs into any trouble with the bulls and has to get out of town, just send them to us."

"I do that, and they'll probably never come back," she teased.

"A week around our place and they will be begging to come back."

Spot smiled. "Yeah... a moment of peace and quiet will really scare some of them." 

Hades laughed. "Get out of here before I soak ya, ya bum!"

"Aye aye, Cap'n."

"She ain't a captain!" Andy exclaimed. "You're saying it to the wrong person!"

"He knows that Andy, he was just teasing her," Rae said.

"Oh..." He continued to look thoroughly confused.

Rae took his hand. "Let's go home!"

"Yeah!" Andy yelled.

Spot laughed and jerked his head towards Julie and Chris. "Come on you two. We're going home."

Rae stepped from the train and sighed. "Home sweet home."

"And this time we arrive in style," Spot commented with a smile. They hadn't hitched a ride this time, so there was no need to jump from the moving contraption. The pretty carved sign "Welcome to Pleasant Valley" hung between two posts several yards away.

Rae looked at Spot, "So how are we going to get out to the house. It's really too far to be walking."

He glanced around and spotted a few carriages waiting for anyone who needed a ride. "Well, one of those would do..."

She nodded and they headed over there.

"We really should buy some horses and a buggy of our own."

"We will... if we still have the house and everything..." Spot replied.

Rae nodded.  "Shall we go see if we still have a house?"

"Sounds good to me." Spot said, leading the way to one of the carriages.

"Good afternoon, Sir."

The driver stared at Spot, and then reached for his gun. "Get away from me and my horses!"

Rae shoved her way between them. "THAT IS MY HUSBAND YOU'RE TALKING TO, YOU- YOU JERK!"

The man stared hard at Rae. "What do you two want?"

"We would like a ride to our home," she replied through gritted teeth. She didn't add a 'please' because frankly she didn't believe this man deserved one.

"Where is your home?" he asked.

"The old Kringler place." Rae answered.

He paused for a long time. "THE old Kringler place?"

"Surely you know it," Spot retorted. "Small place, outside of town. Been abandoned for a while. Home of the Beast!"

He glared at Spot. "I know of it... I just cannot understand why anyone would wish to live... there..."

"Why not?" Spot asked. "It serves our needs perfectly fine."

The driver gave a very heavy sigh. "All right then..." He didn't look too pleased, but instructed the group to climb inside.

* * *

 The driver left them at the gate and Rae pushed open the gate enough for them to walk through.  Once on the porch Spot handed Ann to Chris and scooped Rae up in his arms. She threw her head back laughing. The children followed- Chris and Julie awestruck and Andy shouting with joy.

"You gotta come see the playroom!" Andy yelled, grabbing Julie by the hand and pulling her toward the back of the house. Julie just let him drag her along.

"We're home," Spot said, resting his forehead on Rae's, smiling broadly.

"Home," Rae whispered as he leaned down to kiss her.

"Ewww..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Can you believe it? Rae and I have finished our third story! (Also, this is my first time posting one of our chapters on ff.net! Go me! ^_^ Rae's compy is being stupid, she says.) Anyway, we'd like to thank all of our wonderful, dedicated reviewers! We love you all! To Rae: I'd like to thank you for being a great late night muse pal and putting up with my general lack of ideas! It's amazing how many stories we've done in such a short time! And now I leave you with a teaser from our upcoming fic, the third in this untitled trilogy: The Kringle House!

Rae sat up suddenly. "Spot?" she whispered hesitantly.

Smothering a yawn, he rolled over on his side and looked at her frame outlined in the moonlight that filtered through the lacy curtains they had recently hung over the windows for the coming of spring. "Yeah? What's the matter?"

"I heard something," she whispered.

He yawned hugely. "Like what?"

"Like someone moving around," she said. "Up there!" she added, pointing toward the third floor. 

Spot shrugged. "Maybe it's just mice?"

"That was no mouse running across the floor. It sounded like a person walking around up there."

Spot was silent for a moment. "I don't hear anything..."

"I swear I heard something."

The boards overhead made a snapping noise. Quickly, alert now, Spot sat up. Climbing out of bed, he headed for the door. "I'm going to check it out."


End file.
